AsianAve
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| AsianAve | |
|---|---|
| Type | Social networking company |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | 205 Hudson Street, 6th Floor New York, New York, USA |
| Owner | Community Connect Inc |
AsianAve or Asian Avenue is a social networking website focused on the Asian American community.
[edit] History
Originally named AsianAvenue (or Asian Avenue), the site was launched on June 21, 1997 by co-founders Benjamin Sun, Peter Chen, Grace Chang, Michael Montero, and Calvin Wong.[citation needed] By 1998, The New York Times described it as "unusually successful" despite being "run out of an apartment", having hit five million page views from 50,000 users.[1]
Members were politically active, protesting an MSNBC headline for the 1998 Winter Olympics reading "American beats out Kwan", referring to U.S. Olympic teammates Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan.[1] In 1999, members protested an ad for SKYY vodka showing a partly-dressed white woman being served by a woman in a Mandarin dress and chopsticks in her hair,[2] which the protesters said perpetuated racial stereotypes.[3] After some 300 postings on Asian Avenue were forwarded to SKYY, the company agreed to stop using the ad.[2]
The site received over 70,000 unique visitor hits in August 2000.[4] At its peak, there were over 2 million users with more than 5000 online at any time.[citation needed] Robert X. Cringely claimed in 2000 that Asian Avenue had more members than BlackPlanet, a Community Connect sister site.[5]
Fine Line Features chose the site for an exclusive interview with Chinese NBA star Yao Ming to promote its documentary The Year of the Yao. One writer characterized it "mainly an Internet dating site"[6] In 2003, Darrell Hamamoto used an interview on the site to attract male talent for his adult film Skin to Skin, using the "unheard of" pairing of an Asian-American male performer with Asian-American woman.[7]
At one point the site made various previously-free features available only to premium users, which hurt the site's popularity. On October 31, 2005 the website relaunched the social network features.[citation needed] As of April 2007, there were 1.4 million registered users with fewer than 100 online at any given time.[citation needed]
Partners include party promoters (Synergy), film festivals (Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Asian American International Film Festival), media (AngryAsianMan.com, AZN TV) and many more. Music artists, such as Notorious MSG, Far*East Movement, and Magnetic North have gained popularity from their exposure on AsianAve.com.[original research?]
In October 2007, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama created profiles on AsianAve as well as sister sites BlackPlanet, MiGente.com and Glee.com.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Anthony Ramirez. "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: NEW YORK ON LINE; One Site, 14 Ethnic Groups", The New York Times, April 12, 1998. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ a b Kim Girard. "Vodka maker clips ad after community criticism", CNet, August 31, 1999. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ Courtney Kane. "Vodka Ad Is Stopped After Racism Protest", The New York Times, September 2, 1999. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ "Group Think: Community Connect has created ethnic associations on the net. Can it also make money?", The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2000. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. Mirrored on Community Connect website.
- ^ Robert X. Cringely. "If You Build It, They Will Come: What BlackPlanet Teaches Us About the True Nature of the Internet", PBS, August 17, 2000. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ Grace Niwa. "Lessons from Yanking ‘The Year of the Yao’", Asian Week, May 6, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ Harry Mok. "Yellow porn", Salon.com, October 10, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ Jose Antonio Vargas. "Barack Obama, Social Networking King", The Washington Post, October 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
