Thaindian News

FORT WORTH, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) — American Airlines on Monday unveiled BlackAtlas.com, a social networking website to connect African-American travelers through a dynamic online community.

The company calls the website a “first-of-its-kind social networking site,” which combines features of a travel site with the power of a social network to create a dynamic online community for travelers to share experience unique to the black community, according to the company.

The site will enable users to share travel stories, videos and photos and provide travel tips through blogs and discussion boards.

“I love to experience new cities, new food and meet new people. I love the thrill of discovering black culture everywhere, and so many African Americans feel the same way I do,” said Nelson George, an author, culture critic and journalist. George was also nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. “I want to entice more people to hit the road by giving them a different, and hopefully fresh, angle on travel through BlackAtlas.com,” he added.

Users of the new website will also be able to rate or make recommendations of popular destinations and businesses, connect with other travelers with similar interests, answer questions based on their personal travel experiences and build travel itineraries based on user recommendations.

American Airlines said it sees its new website as an important connector for African-American travelers, and hopes people will share their experiences on the website.

“We at American Airlines see BlackAtlas.com as an important connector, enabling an online community of travelers to share information about their favorite places for experiencing African-American and Black culture, food, music, literature, history and events across the globe,” said Roger Frizzell, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Advertising for American Airlines.

Site users will also be able to share their content across other social networks, create profiles, rate content, save content to Favorites, create downloadable travel guides, contribute unique text, videos or photos, and link to promotional fares on AA.com (American Airlines’ website). The initial site content will be divided into destination/city-specific and category-specific information, such as travel tips, restaurants, nightlife, culture, arts and museums, historic sites, beauty and barber shops, and places of worship.

American Airlines developed the website in a partnership with Burrell Communications, a marketing communications company with offices in Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles, and Juxt Interactive, a leading interactive branding and marketing agency with offices in Newport Beach and San Francisco.

“As we created the site, we also found a wealth of little-known facts about African-American and Black cultural and historical contributions in every corner of the world,” said McGhee Williams Ossee, Co-CEO of Burrell Communications. “From a Jamaican restaurant in Milan to Santa Monica’s Ink Well Beach, there are uniquely African-American experiences enjoyed by travelers around the world. BlackAtlas.com is a forum that encourages travelers to share these stories and give them the opportunity to better plan their next trip with a few key activities or places in mind,” Ossee added.

The full website will be functional on October 15, according to a message on BlackAtlas.com.