'Ethnic Minorities' Get Social Networking Site

Fast Pitch, an online social network for professionals has launched a portal for people of African American origin, and other ethnic minorities, called MyBlackFriends.com. Representatives of Fast Pitch say the portal is a networking website which is tailored to, but not just for, Minorities. The content, they say, is built around African Americans and other ethnicities and 'people of color'.

L. Ronald Durham, creator of MyBlackFriends.com says, "The website was made so minority users can leave the over-populated, advertisement intensive websites like MySpace and join a smaller, closer community over at MyBlackFriends.com. The creator made it clear that the launch of this website is not to separate race, but to unite races." He also stressed that any race is welcome to join MyBlackFriends.com.

Representatives also said that MyBlackFriends.com is the first social networking website created to unite minorities in a structured, safe environment. It is a free and open portal, with features that include blogging, photo and video sharing, forums, blogs, chat, and classified ads. Moreover, they plan to donate a big portion of the profits, to the church and other minority charities and organizations.

The portal also offers an affiliate program for its members, to earn money. Durham said, "We feel that the affiliate program concept is truly unique in the social network industry, and will make our website a magnet for those who want to combine the fun of making new friends online, with the opportunity to make money as well."

Each member of MyBlackFriends.com can earn commissions by referring people to the portal, using the unique URL that each member receives at the time they signup. Durham says MyBlackFriends.com forbids the use of profanity, and nudity, and is geared toward a more family friendly website. Anyone found to have added profane remarks in their profile or in communications between members will be deleted.

He added, "There's other things going on locally in every city, like Black and Hispanic organizations and clubs. We wanted a way to connect all these organizations worldwide using the power of the Internet."