AsianAve
{{Short description|Social networking service}}
{{Infobox website
| name = AsianAve.com
| logo =
| owner = Urban One
| type = Social networking service
| foundation = {{start date and age|1997}}
| location_city = 205 Hudson Street, 6th Floor
New York City, New York
| location_country = United States
| current_status = Redirected to BlackPlanet
}}
AsianAve or Asian Avenue was a social networking service that focused on Asian Americans. The platform was shut down and the URL now redirects to its sister site, BlackPlanet.
History
Originally named AsianAvenue (or Asian Avenue), the site was launched on July 21, 1997{{cite web|url=http://www.communityconnect.com/timeline.html |title=Company Timeline |access-date=2008-07-10 |publisher=Community Connect |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518090324/http://www.communityconnect.com/timeline.html |archive-date=2008-05-18 }} by co-founders Benjamin Sun, Peter Chen, Grace Chang, Michael Montero, and Calvin Wong. 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.{{cite news
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/12/nyregion/neighborhood-report-new-york-on-line-one-site-14-ethnic-groups.html
|title=NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: NEW YORK ON LINE; One Site, 14 Ethnic Groups
|author=Anthony Ramirez
|date=April 12, 1998
|work=The New York Times
|access-date=2007-10-06}}
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. 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,{{cite news
|url=http://www.news.com/Vodka-maker-clips-ad-after-community-criticism/2100-1017_3-230488.html
|title=Vodka maker clips ad after community criticism
|author=Kim Girard
|date=August 31, 1999
|publisher=CNet
|access-date=2007-10-05}} which the protesters said perpetuated racial stereotypes.{{cite news
|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CEFD6173AF931A3575AC0A96F958260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FA%2FAsian-Americans
|title=Vodka Ad Is Stopped After Racism Protest
|author=Courtney Kane
|date=September 2, 1999
|work=The New York Times
|access-date=2007-09-26}}{{dead link|date=August 2023}} After some 300 postings on Asian Avenue were forwarded to SKYY, the company agreed to stop using the ad.
The site received over 70,000 unique visitor hits in August 2000.{{cite news
|url=http://www.communityconnect.com/PressRoom/wallstreet_102300.html
|title=Group Think: Community Connect has created ethnic associations on the net. Can it also make money?
|date=October 23, 2000
|publisher=The Wall Street Journal
|access-date=2007-10-05
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922113549/http://www.communityconnect.com/PressRoom/wallstreet_102300.html
|archive-date=22 September 2007
|url-status=dead
}} Mirrored on Community Connect website. At its peak, there were over 2 million users with more than 5000 online at any time.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} Robert X. Cringely claimed in 2000 that Asian Avenue had more members than BlackPlanet, a Community Connect sister site.{{cite news
|url=https://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2000/pulpit_20000817_000661.html
|title=If You Build It, They Will Come: What BlackPlanet Teaches Us About the True Nature of the Internet
|author=Robert X. Cringely
|author-link=Robert X. Cringely
|date=August 17, 2000
|publisher=PBS
|access-date=2007-10-05}}
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"{{cite news
|url=http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=dc2d8bfad3d34ac3c9286b004e9209c8&this_category_id=169
|title=Lessons from Yanking 'The Year of the Yao'
|author=Grace Niwa
|date=May 6, 2005
|publisher=Asian Week
|access-date=2007-10-05
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815104339/http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=dc2d8bfad3d34ac3c9286b004e9209c8&this_category_id=169
|archive-date=August 15, 2007
|url-status=dead
}} 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.{{cite news
|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/sex/feature/2003/10/10/asian/index.html
|title=Yellow porn
|date=October 10, 2003
|author=Harry Mok
|work=Salon.com
|access-date=2007-10-05| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071011034929/http://dir.salon.com/story/sex/feature/2003/10/10/asian/index.html| archive-date= 11 October 2007 | url-status= live}}
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|date=October 2007}} As of April 2007, there were 1.4 million registered users with fewer than 100 online at any given time.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}}
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 inline|date=September 2007}} In 2010, Monster.com announced a co-branded partnership with Asian Avenue. Based on a small questionnaire members filled out when signing up for a membership, Monster generated a list of potential job openings and interests, which was displayed after users signed into AsianAvenue.
In October 2007, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama created profiles on AsianAve as well as sister sites BlackPlanet, MiGente.com and Glee.com.{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2007/10/barack-obama-social-networking.html | title=Barack Obama, Social Networking King | first=Jose Antonio | last=Vargas | author-link=Jose Antonio Vargas | date=October 6, 2007 | newspaper=The Washington Post | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105071622/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/10/06/barack_obama_social_networking.html | archive-date=November 5, 2011}}
AsianAvenue allowed users to see who visited their profiles, in contrast to Facebook, where browsing is entirely private. Members can view a list of members that have looked at their site on their main profile page.
The site was shut down and the URL is now redirected to its sister site, BlackPlanet.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|New York City|Internet}}
- [http://www.asianave.com Official website]
{{Online social networking}}
Category:Defunct social networking services
Category:Companies based in New York City
Category:Asian-American mass media