4 ms·

> 25% of black teens in their acquisition press release Not necessarily illegal, but I had thought that, for sure, one shouldn't boast about heavily discrimin

> 25% of black teens in their acquisition press release Not necessarily illegal, but I had thought that, for sure, one shouldn't boast about heavily discriminatory race-related factoids, even if they thought that it would be for a "good" cause. Didn't they think what would have happened had they replaced the "black teens" in their press release with "white teens"?

klooney 3y ago
That's how Americans say "lots of the cool kids use the app".
- motoxpro 3y ago
  Yeah, GP, this is not so much race thing as it is a cultural "where the cool kids are" thing.
  - jojobas 3y ago
    Is that as cool for investors? I would imagine, for better or worse, being black correlated with being poor, and therefore black userbase is less valuable then white for ad serving purposes.
    - motoxpro 3y ago
      You're missing why this would be important. It's cool for investors because the black user base draws in a bunch of other people along with them. It's also not about people saying "omg black people, I must be there!" Culturally, historically, in the USA, black culture has set a bunch of trends. See NBA, NFL, hip-hop/music, comedians, dance, etc. Same as when a "cool" person goes anywhere, you don't monetize them, you monetize all the people they bring into the club, bar, theater, etc. An example. https://www.npr.org/2021/07/01/1011899328/black-tiktok-creators-are-on-strike-to-protest-a-lack-of-credit-for-their-work https://www.npr.org/2021/07/01/1011899328/black-tiktok-creat... Please don't focus on whether on not they should or should get credit or any political statements, focus on the fact that they are the ones that made the "cool" dances that the most followed two girls on TikTok used, which then went viral, which in turn made TikTok a bunch of money because those millions of views had ads played against them.
      - jojobas 3y ago
        You're basically saying black people are over-represented in money-garnering trends, a bold statement to back up just by anecdata.
        ForHackernews 3y ago
        Do we need a citation that oil is a valuable commodity? Or that the internet has been useful for commerce? I think it's self-evident that hip hop is at least a trillion dollar phenomenon and that it started with black folks in the United States.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
        jojobas 3y ago
        The fact that hip-hop originated from the black community and got big (you might want to read on how exactly it got big) doesn't really translate to a marketing/talent scouting strategy going forward. You could shoehorn K-Pop like that too, quick somebody buy Kakaotalk for a ridiculous amount!
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
polytely 3y ago
No because it is a different thing. US black population has their own distinct culture (grown out of a shared struggle and history) that simply does not exist for the group that people call 'white'. In this case black teens isn't just pointing at skin color but at culture, one that is very valuable for the VC crowd because it's where cool stuff originates.
- paganel 3y ago
  > one that is very valuable for the VC crowd because it's where cool stuff originates. Still sounds racist, in its way. As in, why aren't the black kids seen as the boring, nerdish kids that will get to form the VC crowd themselves in 20 years' time? Later edit: Reminds me of this Dave Chapelle skit [1], the part with the "white dude" whispering: > Oh, my God, I think those black guys are gonna try to save us It's just essentialist stuff. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ORzNgXgDqU&t=65s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ORzNgXgDqU&t=65s
  - ForHackernews 3y ago
    > As in, why aren't the black kids seen as the boring, nerdish kids that will get to form the VC crowd themselves in 20 years' time? That's a good question and if you're sincerely interested in understanding the answer, there's a long history of thought on the topic of black excellence in the context of racial oppression. You could start with W.E.B. Du Bois and the "Talented Tenth" For the record, I'm assuming your questions are disingenuous, but answering in good faith for other readers who might interested. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/who-really-invented-the-talented-tenth/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cr...
    - paganel 3y ago
      > W.E.B. Du Bois and the "Talented Tenth" Thank you for the your recommendation. Found it funny that one of the establishment's darling magazines, I'm talking about Foreign Affairs, has started doing the token racial thing when it comes to Du Bois by finding out that he had, indeed, written for them 70 to 80 years ago [1], and in the May/June issue they even re-published a July 1943 piece of his. No mention of his communism, of course, that would defeat the purpose of talking about race without really looking at what stands behind race. [1] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/web-du-bois-doctrine-race-america-century https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/web-du-bois-doc...

klooney 3y ago

That's how Americans say "lots of the cool kids use the app".

motoxpro 3y ago
Yeah, GP, this is not so much race thing as it is a cultural "where the cool kids are" thing.
- jojobas 3y ago
  Is that as cool for investors? I would imagine, for better or worse, being black correlated with being poor, and therefore black userbase is less valuable then white for ad serving purposes.
  - motoxpro 3y ago
    You're missing why this would be important. It's cool for investors because the black user base draws in a bunch of other people along with them. It's also not about people saying "omg black people, I must be there!" Culturally, historically, in the USA, black culture has set a bunch of trends. See NBA, NFL, hip-hop/music, comedians, dance, etc. Same as when a "cool" person goes anywhere, you don't monetize them, you monetize all the people they bring into the club, bar, theater, etc. An example. https://www.npr.org/2021/07/01/1011899328/black-tiktok-creators-are-on-strike-to-protest-a-lack-of-credit-for-their-work https://www.npr.org/2021/07/01/1011899328/black-tiktok-creat... Please don't focus on whether on not they should or should get credit or any political statements, focus on the fact that they are the ones that made the "cool" dances that the most followed two girls on TikTok used, which then went viral, which in turn made TikTok a bunch of money because those millions of views had ads played against them.
    - jojobas 3y ago
      You're basically saying black people are over-represented in money-garnering trends, a bold statement to back up just by anecdata.
      - ForHackernews 3y ago
        Do we need a citation that oil is a valuable commodity? Or that the internet has been useful for commerce? I think it's self-evident that hip hop is at least a trillion dollar phenomenon and that it started with black folks in the United States.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
        jojobas 3y ago
        The fact that hip-hop originated from the black community and got big (you might want to read on how exactly it got big) doesn't really translate to a marketing/talent scouting strategy going forward. You could shoehorn K-Pop like that too, quick somebody buy Kakaotalk for a ridiculous amount!
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]

polytely 3y ago

No because it is a different thing. US black population has their own distinct culture (grown out of a shared struggle and history) that simply does not exist for the group that people call 'white'. In this case black teens isn't just pointing at skin color but at culture, one that is very valuable for the VC crowd because it's where cool stuff originates.

paganel 3y ago
> one that is very valuable for the VC crowd because it's where cool stuff originates. Still sounds racist, in its way. As in, why aren't the black kids seen as the boring, nerdish kids that will get to form the VC crowd themselves in 20 years' time? Later edit: Reminds me of this Dave Chapelle skit [1], the part with the "white dude" whispering: > Oh, my God, I think those black guys are gonna try to save us It's just essentialist stuff. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ORzNgXgDqU&t=65s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ORzNgXgDqU&t=65s
- ForHackernews 3y ago
  > As in, why aren't the black kids seen as the boring, nerdish kids that will get to form the VC crowd themselves in 20 years' time? That's a good question and if you're sincerely interested in understanding the answer, there's a long history of thought on the topic of black excellence in the context of racial oppression. You could start with W.E.B. Du Bois and the "Talented Tenth" For the record, I'm assuming your questions are disingenuous, but answering in good faith for other readers who might interested. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/who-really-invented-the-talented-tenth/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cr...
  - paganel 3y ago
    > W.E.B. Du Bois and the "Talented Tenth" Thank you for the your recommendation. Found it funny that one of the establishment's darling magazines, I'm talking about Foreign Affairs, has started doing the token racial thing when it comes to Du Bois by finding out that he had, indeed, written for them 70 to 80 years ago [1], and in the May/June issue they even re-published a July 1943 piece of his. No mention of his communism, of course, that would defeat the purpose of talking about race without really looking at what stands behind race. [1] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/web-du-bois-doctrine-race-america-century https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/web-du-bois-doc...