IAC and Black Web Enterprises (BWE) have jointly launched RushmoreDrive.  It is a search engine exclusively focused on the Black community which uses a patent pending vertical search algorithm to deliver results that are highly targeted towards the Black community including African American, Black Caribbean, and Black Hispanic communities, as well as other people of African heritage.

RusmoreDrive product offerings include:

• Search:  More of a universal search.  It lets you search web, news, images, videos, blogs, local businesses and maps.  The local business and map search results are provided through Ask.com.
• News:  The News feature which gathers and delivers news headlines from various Black media sources, blogs as well as general market news sources.
• Job Networks:  The Job Networks on RushmoreDrive are powered by Jobster.  This feature will provide the Black community with social networking tools to help them in their job search.

I tested the web search and found the result to be very focused on the Black community.  I used “United States” and “Music” as the search terms and the result were relevant.  The ability to rate the search results is also provided but I am not sure whether those ratings are used for improving the search results or not.

Johnny Taylor, RushmoreDrive.com President and CEO, said,

We are going to be the online home for all Black people in America whether they be African American, Black Caribbean, Black Hispanic, or people of African heritage.

Finally, Black people across the country have a search engine that is shaped by the interests and usage of the Black community.  Mainstream search engines and  professional networking communities fail to easily provide information relevant to a Black audience and current search tools often do not deliver search results from Black Web sites in the first several pages of results. RushmoreDrive.com will deliver a highly relevant Web search experience for the Black community, plus two highly relevant online search activities - News Search and Jobs Search.

For public awareness and as their launch initiative, RusmoreDrive will start a forum named Road to November 4 which will offers tools and information about the 2008 Presidential Election.  Presidential candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton has agreed to participate in this forum and she will answer a question each day from a member of RushmoreDrive community between April 10 and April 17, 2008.

RushmoreDrive is gaining traction in the corporate sector as well as other organizations.  Their launch partners include the National Urban League, the National Alliance of Black School Educators, the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources, General Motors, Diageo, Coca-Cola, and Signature Wine Group.

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