A Cruise Down Rushmore Drive

African-American-targeted search engine Rushmore Drive closed up shop recently after one year, but the debate still continues as to whether or not there was a need for it in the first place. Hunter-Miller Group founder and president Pepper Miller and consultant John Parikhal discussed it on AdAge.com.

The cons: Rushmore Drive was called racist and separatist, and parent company IAC was ripped for thinking it had a chance to make a dent versus Google.

The pros: In Miller’s words, “Rushmore was better than Google at collecting, organizing and disseminating black information.”

Miller and Parikhal weren’t the only ones to weigh in on Rushmore Drive, though.

PCG Technology Services co-founder and vice president Donna Smith-Bellinger was pro-Rushmore Drive:

We need special search engines like Rushmore Drive to make it easier to identify and locate African-American information online. An African-American search engine not only helps other African Americans find black-owned business Websites, but it can also aid corporations looking for minority companies to hire.

But business strategist Jaclynn Topping disagreed:

There was nothing missing (from using Google) as a black person. The concept of a race-based search engine (or browser) is ridiculous, especially in the face of the move to open platforms. The World Wide Web is color-blind, gender-blind, disability-blind. No barriers. It’s all about the tag, keyword density and linking strategy. It’s the Internet’s greatest strength. What is Rushmore giving me? What’s black about browsing?

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.