Can Blackbox Republic Breathe New Life Into the Online Love Market?
Would you pay $25 per month to belong to a social network for "sex positive" Burning Man types, with extensive privacy controls and real-world events planning? Former enterprise collaboration software marketing exec Sam Lawrence has co-founded a new company that launches tonight and has raised $1 million in funding in the belief that enough people are looking for exactly that.
Blackbox Republic argues that the transaction-focused dating site market is unfulfilling for millions of people around the world.
He and co-founder April Donato just completed a 50 city tour around the US and have stories to tell about waitresses at roadside cafes crying out that a site like Blackbox is just what they've been looking for. If you're familiar, and comfortable with, the phrase "sex positive" then Blackbox might be the site for you, too. I have very mixed feelings about the service, but it sure is interesting.
Lawrence and Donato define the phrase "sex positive" as meaning "open enough about sexuality that it's not an issue." (How neutral became positive, I don't know, people like this have a way of creeping up on you I guess.) They point to queer and bisexual pop-culture icons and big public festivals like Burning Man and Berlin's giant Love Parade as examples of this paradigm spreading around the world. They also point to Wikipedia's definition of the phrase. Blackbox believes it can create a safe, respectful and fulfilling social network for people who are into that kind of thing.
If this sounds like over-privileged, care-free, irresponsible promiscuity to you - then you're probably not in the target market. (I'm not.) Many people will likely appreciate some of the site's features, like the fact that new users are unable to view profiles of anyone but other new users until they are "vouched for" by an established user.
Lawrence and Donato have a messianic vision to disrupt the online dating industry and bring community to a large and unserved group of people. A portion of each month's membership fee will be donated to a charity of each user's choice, creating another layer of connection between groups of people on the site.
Make no mistake, though, this is a business. Lawrence's last job was as Chief Marketing Officer at Jive Software, a high-powered collaboration software suite used by a number of the biggest companies in the US. He's very good at attracting attention through intelligent engagement in online social media. The hot-button issues of love, sex and dating may be a big challenge to communicate about effectively, though. Blackbox's vague inclusion in its plans of "virtual gifts" provided by product vendors may also be hard to balance with its adamantly expressed intention to prioritize authenticity.
If sexuality "isn't an issue" for you, but remains enough of an issue to interest you in sites like this, Blackbox Republic opens to the public tonight. It's an interesting new approach to online social networking and could very well offer the kind of community that a growing number of people are looking for.
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They say there's a social media for just about everything. I think this brings us a lot closer to the "everything" mark! Hey, I've got no problems with it, everyone deserves a place to hang out and not get spammed to death. If people are interested more power to them.
Thanks for the thoughtful post, Marshall.
We're going to work our butts off trying to breath that life into the online love market. We'll be super happy, even if it helps change a very small group of people's lives.
We believe there's room for something different and meaningful out there. And we're going to do whatever we can to get there.
Cheers,
Sam Lawrence
With all due respect, this a solution in search of a problem... It's just mainstreaming - and charging for - a service that sites all over the web already provide. It's hard to believe that anyone in the target market would respond with, "Wow! Just what I've been waiting for!" rather than "Oh. And you want me to PAY for that?" I AM in the target market, and I'd be hard pressed to name anyone I know who'd be interested...
Hmm. How does being 'sex-positive' equal promiscuity?
I'm sure my European grandmother would disagree with you - being able to discuss a natural part of the human experience is one thing, but f*cking anything that moves is another.
Umm - isn't this what adult friend finder already does? I agree this is a solution that needs a problem. I am not particularly clear what they mean by "transaction-focused" either. Does that mean you can pay for a "sex-positive" experience?
I have to say that from previous experiance, this is a very hard nut to crack. Take a look at Jeff Pulver funded GirlsTeachGuys.Com which is a site that has a very normal but uncensored conversation about dating, sex, relationships, and love, with videos that -although don't contain ANY nudity or a New Yorker's definition of foul language, the site is still not serving up google advertising, (probably because it didn't pass their content filtering system, and is considered a porn site) this is one of the only sites on the internet that has a real-person (versus so called "Sexperts") conversation on asexuality, and is in the business of helping real people out (it's a free site, and I'm not sure about their business model). Good luck to you guys. I think you have a tough road ahead.
I have to disagree with richard and sam; this is a potential solution to my problem. I consider myself polyamorous (meaning I believe in multiple simultaneous romantic partners) as well as sex-positive. Those other sites do NOT serve me. They are binary. "I am looking for sex" or "I am looking for monogamous love with one person".
There are other options in my world. Sex-positive to me means that the big deal about sex- all the guilt, shame, fear, stigma, and judgemental views people hold - are suspended or non-existent. In a sex-positive community, I can say "I love porn, and I am looking for an intelligent, kinky girl who loves molecular biology, long walks on the beach and vigorous anal sex", and not feel ashamed. And it won't make me shallow, disgusting, or promiscuous.
Which leads me into the point percy made. How exactly does "sex-positive" mean "irresponsible promiscuity"? Just because I enjoy sex immensely as one part of the human experience (along with music, work, dancing, fitness, education, travel, cooking, etc) doesn't mean I want to sleep with everyone I meet. That is some leap of logic.
Really looking forward to seeing how this site develops.
I'm currently trying to think where threaded comments fit in the roadmap right now, but it is something that is definitely planned. We're not going to say people *have* to use threaded comments, but the system shouldn't restrict people who want to have that option. Plus for larger conversations I think threaded comments make everything easier to follow.
Max, there are places like Literotica where you can be 'sex positive' - without paying a cent.
Which brings me to my reservations about BBR; as others have mentioned, a social network where people can be 'sex positive' may be a good idea (or too narrow IMO), but will the business model fly?
I tried to peak into it, but I wasn't going to pay to look to see if I want to buy - not even just $5 - much less have such a site have access to my credit card info (granted, given the backers, it is highly unlikely that this is a scam, but the domain in itself [sex, porn, erotica], has over the years, attracted so many scam artists that most people are very leery about giving their credit card info to such sites - which is a detriment towards attracting paying customers).
Then there is the issue of some of the dating web sites having false members push up their ratings and other scams.
Something like plentyoffish.com where the core free portion of the website is open and generates revenue via advertising is much more likely to succeed.
BBR, on the surface seems interesting, but I'll pass - thanks.
Good luck though, if you can get it to work maybe it will be a good place - I can't tell without digging around inside, and I am not going to pay to do that.