New AP Poll Reveals That Black and Hispanic Millennials Are Just as Tech Savvy as Their White Counterparts

According to an Associated Press poll, Black and Hispanic Millennials are just as tech savvy as their white peers.

In a survey conducted by the Media Insight Project, 1,045 young adults from the ages of 18-34 reported their tech habits. This group which included 163 African-Americans and 162 Hispanics were the focus of the poll results.

“People of color are very wired and just as adept in using technology,” said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, which funded the study. “If you want a subject that hasn’t been covered in the mainstream, millennials have found ways to get at that information through community sharing more than traditional ways. The way they get news is heavily influenced by topic.”

The poll suggests that old trends do not apply to this new generation. Because of the increased availability of technology and devices  like smartphones, tablets, and cheap affordable laptops people with lower economic means will have access to the technological revolution.

From the poll’s results, 41 percent of Blacks compared with 29 percent of whites and 24 percent of Hispanics will get their trending news from Facebook. The numbers show that 38 percent of Hispanics compared with 33 percent of Blacks and 20 percent of whites  will go to Youtube for information and 30 percent of Hispanics compared with 45 percent of African-Americans and 19 percent of whites will go to Instagram.

These numbers show that Black people are extremely active on a variety of social media platforms.

“Streaming music, TV or movies is the most commonly cited online activity among African-Americans, while keeping up with what their friends are doing is the most commonly cited online activity among Hispanics. For white millennials, checking and sending email was most common,” reports Glynn A. Hill for the Associated Press.

This poll was created in January and February of this year and released this month.

Reddit CEO and 500 Startups Founder Awkwardly Discuss Diversity in Tech

Last Friday, interim Reddit CEO Ellen Pao and 500 Startups founder Dave McClure were featured panelists at the PreMoney conference for venture capitalists to talk about diversity.

The irony is that the room was packed with mostly white males from various tech companies. This is to be expected when there is a need to discuss diversity in the first place.

Pao revealed some alarming figures about her own company. Currently, Reddit is made up of only 14 percent women engineers.

McClure asked Pao, “How many African-American or Black people work at Reddit? [And] How many Hispanic American or Hispanic people work at Reddit?”

Pao answered uncomfortably, saying that the company does not ask people to self-identify.

McClure continues and asks, “How do you know if this is a stat or a KPI (key performance indicator) that I should be considering? Am I more racist for asking people or for not asking people?”

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Pao then responds. “I don’t know. When I look around I want to see diversity on the team.”

“I’m pretty sure there are no Black people in Silicon Valley,” McClure adds.

The whole exchange was uncomfortable for the mostly white audience and the two CEOs. This is proof that even if the tech industry wants to incorporate more diversity, how do they, how can they speak about it, and how will they keep track of their attempts at diversifying if they don’t ask people to self-identify?

“We haven’t counted. We have one African-American engineer. We just hired a general counsel, Melissa Tidwell, who is an African-American woman. I think we have three other African-American people working,” Pao said.

Pao and McClure may be part of the problem by making sure they don’t hurt anyone. The two didn’t address the issue in a bold and straightforward way. Pao has dealt with sexism in the industry firsthand, so she knows the reality of the lack of women in tech.

This panel is proof that Silicon Valley has a long way to go.

Source: CNN Money/YouTube

Lack of Minorities at Tech Conferences Spurs Action

I love tech conferences. The knowledge to be gained from attending talks, the schwag you receive from technology vendors trying to push their latest and greatest product, the incredible networking with other professionals in the tech space, and, most importantly, the exposure to the newest and latest trends in tech makes attending technology conferences well worth my while. I’ve attended conferences about Linux, FOSS, Nagios, Information Security, virtualization and quite a few others during my career in the technology field.

What I don’t love about most tech conferences is the lack of minority representation on both the attendee and speaker side. It still alarms me that I have “virtually” met tons of people of color that work in the tech field but still fail to see these numbers translate into tech conference attendance/speakers.

I think this post deserves a bit more of a set up so maybe you’ll begin to understand it more. I began attending technology conferences early in my career. Ohio Linux Fest was my first one. I went because that’s where the “geeks” were going to be and I wanted to soak up as much knowledge as possible. The experience of being around other Linux geeks was amazing. The camaraderie, the networking, the knowledge-sharing was something that really stuck with me. The absence of people of color at these conferences all stuck with me and was my main reason for starting BIT.

Read more from Greg Greenlee at blacksintechnology.net

Imagine the Possibilities of What This Innovation Hub in Kenya Could Develop in the Next Few Years

Source: Design Indaba – “If you want to know what’s happening in the digital and tech space in Kenya, pay a visit to the iHub in Nairobi. Established in 2010, it has become “ground zero” for digital innovation in East Africa, an open space for technologists, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business people to network, collaborate and work on new ideas.”

From Dream Viewer App to Africa’s Financial Terminal, This Serial Entrepreneur Gives Tech Startups New Life

Jon Gosier Third Cohort Capital

After years of launching and growing his own businesses, serial entrepreneur Jon Gosier is giving new life to innovative tech startups.

Gosier has successfully launched and scaled an abundance of businesses and now he’s ready to lend innovative tech startups his expert advice and some substantial financial backing.

The long-time investor and philanthropist is one of eight partners behind the Third Cohort Capital, a seed-stage investment group that focuses on “high-potential technology companies,” according to the company’s official website.

While the entire team is comprised of successful business-minded individuals, Gosier explained that his experience as a serial entrepreneur makes him incredibly valuable to both his clients and partners.

“I’ve started companies and scaled them several times,” he told AtlantaBlackStar. “Having experience as an entrepreneur is invaluable when it comes to investing. It makes me more valuable to my partners who mostly haven’t been entrepreneurs and it makes me more valuable as a mentor and advisor to the companies we invest in.”

Third Cohort Capital offers two financing vehicles to its clients with one option specifically for other fellow Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program alumni, graduates and participants.

While all clients are eligible for equity investments for any amount up to $25,000, only those who have graduated from or are currently working with the Goldman Sachs program are eligible to receive low-interest loans for up to $10,000.

While the company is still relatively new, it already boasts two successful clients who have created innovative mobile apps that are taking tech markets by storm.

Shadow, a mobile application based in San Francisco and Berlin, helps users remember and record their dreams.

By incorporating a social media aspect, the app’s users are also allowed to view the dreams of others around the globe who have decided to share their dreams.

In a more revolutionary aspect, experts believe the dream-viewing app could help make major scientific advancements in the psychology and other health-related fields.

Gosier has also helped to launch Market Atlas, which is described on the company’s website as a “modern financial terminal that uses real-time information and graph search to improve emerging market investment decisions.”

The internationally recognized data scientist serves as the chief technology officer of the self-proclaimed “Bloomberg for Frontier Markets,” which has the ability to help hedge funds, private equity firms and impact investors in Africa make informed business decisions.

These types of revolutionary ideas have led to publications recognizing Gosier as one of the “20 Angel Investors Worth Knowing” and “Innovators of the Year 2013” by Black Enterprise Magazine.

 

12 of the Most Accomplished Black People in Technology

Although Blacks are underrepresented in tech careers, this list of the most influential Blacks in tech highlights men and women who are making it big in the field, according to Business Insiders’ article Important Blacks in Tech.

Denise Young Smith, Head of Human Resources, Apple

In February 2014, Apple appointed Denise Young Smith to lead its worldwide human resources division. Smith replaced Joel Podolny, who now focuses on Apple University full time. Smith previously led Apple’s human resources division for its retail operations. Apple is currently valued at $471.5 billion and employs more than 10,000 people.

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David Steward, Co-founder and Chairman, World Wide Technology

David Steward co-founded World Wide Technology, one of the largest African-American-owned businesses in the country, back in 1990. WWT is a systems integration company that helps large and private companies plan and deploy relevant IT products and solutions. Today, WWT has an annual revenue of $6 billion and more than 2,400 employees worldwide.