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The truth is.. BlackPlanet never really left.

The “OG” African-American social networking site launched back in 2001 with the original goal of connecting Black people across the United States to have conversations about current topics; seek out a potential partner; and/or find a job. Some may say, it was Black Twitter, before there was a Black Twitter. Shoot, it was Facebook before Facebook. It was one of the first opportunities for adults (and teens who probably didn’t have their parents approval) to build an online identity to represent who they were as individuals. I don’t know about you but I spent hours trying to spruce up my BlackPlanet page. Hello, HTML for dummies.

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In 2008, Radio One purchased BlackPlanet and the website transformed a bit but still served as a forum for the Black community. Unfortunately, by this time Facebook and Twitter were household names and the iconic social media network site sort of faded into the background. If you call a reported 20 million users fading into the background.

Now it is over 10 years later and BlackPlanet is trending again because Solange sent out a tweet to her BP page which features beautiful imagery and personal quotes.

HOW DO I SIGN UP?

Once you get there – you realize this is not your mama’s BlackPlanet. Well in this case, this is not the BlackPlanet you know. It has been revamped for today’s modern world but with the original flavor.

And when I say original flavor, I mean it. If you can remember your old email and password, you can probably access your old account (That’s a hard pass for me).  If you don’t remember your login details or are nervous to see what foolery you posted back in the day :::raises hand:::, don’t fret. It is still FREE to sign up. You just need an email to create an account and to pick that perfect username. I’m thinking, MsCarameltwist1976, too much?

WHAT DO I DO ON HERE?!

Once you’re in – you can get to chatting and exploring.

It currently feels sort of like a high school party where everyone is standing around waiting for someone to start dancing first.  So instead, people are wandering around and keeping the conversation to the minimum.

But, there is a sense of excitement throughout the threads because people are happy to be in a space owned by us, for us. Like one user wrote, “it feels like we’ve been called to a family reunion.”

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BlackPlanet Is “Back” – Now What To Do?!  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com