BlackPlanet

Have you ever heard about a platform that can help you to find your perfect match, your new best friend forever, and… a job? If you would like to get a new job – well, this site can do miracles even in this field too!

Why are we so sure about all the mentioned above? It is because of the fact that blackplanet.com is a huge social network with a well-optimised matchmaking algorithm and a great number of users. If you want to know how to use these features to your advantage, read our BlackPlanet review, and you will know everything about this popular website.

About BlackPlanet.com

The website is the brainchild of Omar Wasow, and it was launched in September 2001. Later, in 2008, Radio One purchased it for the insane sum – $39 million. The radio made everything for anyone in the US to know about this platform. The new owners tried to reach all the people but encouraged the black audience to come the most, as there was almost no dating site for them at that time. To strengthen the black community was the first aim of the platform’s administration. At the time of purchase, the platform had more than 20 millions users.

Today there is a great database including people from all over the world. All the nationalities, ages and cultures can meet on blackplanet.com, although there are more African American people than the other ones. A tiny website has grown to one of the biggest African American social networks with matching, and if you are looking for a nice and big community with a wide variety of services, you will feel comfortable on Black Planet.

Registration

If you have ever registered on a site or social network, you will have no questions as for the registration on BlackPlanet website. You can join the community of this platform for free and for three minutes. To do that you should:

• Upload a photo that will be your profile image (GIF, JPG, or PNG formats are available);
• Choose your future username;
• Enter email address;
• Create a unique password;
• Choose gender;
• Enter zip/postal code.

After the registration you can fill in your profile and give more details about yourself for the other users to see the whole picture of yours.

Quality of Profiles

Profiles on this platform differ a lot from those on the other dating sites. They represent less personal information than common platforms have. On a profile you can see only:

• Username of the profile owner. It usually does not represent the real name of the BlackPlanet member, so you can only imagine it. Yet, it is a lot more useful for some people to hide their names behind a creative word or the name they like more than their actual one. It makes such people more opened to the communication: such a trick helps people to be who they are without fear to be hurt, offended, or get social disapproval.
• Profile photo. It is rather a userpic than an actual image. You cannot open it in full size, and it upsets a lot of users, as they would like to see more real images of their interlocutors. But, you always can ask for some new photos of a person you like and get them if they want to show more.
• Short self-description. A few sentences are usually enough to describe personality, aims of communication. Someone just leaves a funny quote, and it is also a good way to express the thoughts: the author of such statement has a sense of humor and does not focus on himself/herself. People can change that short description anytime, showing the community their current mood or how they are doing.
• List of multicultural posts. They remind pins on Pinterest that represent phrases or pictures. There is more written than graphic content on BlackPlanet, as this site is more for communication rather than for discussion of images.
• Number of the user’s friends, followers, props, and hits.

Communication

On the main page of blackplanet com you can see an endless list of posts with images. The images may be either photos of members or their statements or questions to the BlackPlanet society. These pics and questions are ones of the main ways to make contact with someone. This way to attract people and to answer it is similar to the posts in social networks where people can leave comments or give likes. But, on Black Planet com, you cannot repost anything but react to the posts of other members.

So, the ways to communicate include:

• Messaging;
• Leaving comments to the posts of the other users;
• Leaving likes to those posts as well (likes are called prompts on this platform);
• Following a user to see his/her uploading new posts;
• Sending hits.

There are three important sections on the site: Popular posts, Popular users, and Who’s online. There you can see the posts or members getting a lot of attention and make contact with the authors of pictures and other cool members. You can appear in the first two lists as well if your images or statements will gain a lot of likes or comments.

Search tool

Search tool is very simple: it includes such filters as age, name, and zip code. The list of online members is also available.

Mobile app

BlackPlanet has got its mobile app in the 2009 year. However, there are some complaints about its design and usability: some members suppose that it demands an upgrade. Yet, the app is well-optimized, so you will not experience any troubles with it if you do not mind some old-fashioned design features.

Security

The only security measure that the site has is reCaptcha. There will be no verification of identity, any documents uploading to prove that you are a real person, and so on. It can protect the users from bots but not from aggressive people, advertisers, or fraud. Yet, the team is trying to keep their community “clear” and answers any complaints of the users. So, if you experience some troubles with a BlackPlanet member who behaves rudely, please, contact the Support Team and be sure that your issue will be considered as soon as possible.

Prices

You can send messages, leave comments and prompts (or likes) for free. There is no special currency you can use to boost your profile. For someone it may appear to be a negative feature: there is no possibility to become a popular member for money. But, the millions of people believe that it is very convenient to save money while searching for a perfect match or a job. And, it is very honest: only the members who really gain the attention appear in the Popular users list, and no one else.

The site doesn’t ask for any payment at all.

You become a member immediately after the registration, and you may terminate your membership anytime you want. The site does not want to demand purchasing any subscription plan, giving the users the freedom to choose whether they want to be on BlackPlanet.com or not by themselves. Maybe, it is one of those positive features that attract people from all over the globe and make them stay on this platform for long.

Special features of BlackPlanet

Colorful notes

The posts that we have talked about above are called “notes”. This way to make contact is the most popular on BlackPlanet.com. Reviews of the users say that it is very convenient and funny to say something in public and wait for a reaction from the community. You should try to use notes too and experience a friendly attitude to the new members on the platform.

Chat rooms

There are plenty of chat rooms on the website. Anyone can use chat rooms without payment and anytime. Only the moderators can create such rooms for communication. They are divided into groups by age, location, and gender preferences. Users say that there appear job advertisements in those chat rooms sometimes, so if you are looking for a new position, you may find it there.

Stories

There is a special section with the articles about celebrities and the other news. Members of BlackPlanet may leave their comments and discuss the topics with the other users.

Twitter and Facebook

BlackPlanet tries to make its best to become popular in the two main social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. There are a lot of interesting articles there and questions that encourage starting a discussion. And, there was a special feature several years ago – promotion of a member. It was called “Member of the day”. The moderators picked a user and helped him or her to get more attention by attaching the link of his/her profile to the message “A cool member! Check this profile!”. Now this is an old tradition, but you can ask the administration to turn it back – users say that admins are very loyal to the members and try to make their life online more comfortable.

Contact Information