Community Connect's BlackPlanet.com Members Chat With Recording Star Through SolidSpace's ChatBlazer Solution

 

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 20, 2006 – SolidSpace LLC, a leading provider of dynamic hosting infrastructure and client support, today announced that Community Connect Inc., the leading provider of online community, will use SolidSpace’s ChatBlazer solution to host a high-profile celebrity chat with recording star John Legend on June 22.

 

The star will chat with members of Community Connect’s BlackPlanet.com to celebrate Black Music Month in June. Community Connect officials are expecting more than 5,000 members to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

 

While Community Connect has used the ChatBlazer solution to create and maintain smaller chat rooms for nearly two years, this represents the first time the operator of online communities for U.S. ethnic audiences has presented a celebrity chat on such a grand scale.  The ChatBlazer technology is built to scale to thousands of users and will easily support the large groups expected to take part in the events.

 

“We are delighted that ChatBlazer can power such a fun and exciting event to help celebrate Black Music Month,” said Chris Low, Managing Director, SolidSpace Singapore . “After a successful two years using the application to support many chat rooms, we are thrilled that Community Connect is maximizing its ChatBlazer installation in such a public forum.”

 

Community Connect operates three online communities aimed at specific ethnic audiences: AsianAvenue.com for Asian Americans, MiGente.com for second- and third-generation Latinos, and BlackPlanet.com for African Americans of all backgrounds. The sites offer a wide range of services including social communications, job boards and dating connections.

 

Community Connect has used ChatBlazer to create nearly a dozen chat rooms for each of the three communities. Chat rooms in each community support specific audiences depending on age, interests and sexual orientation. Community Connect also has given members the ability to use ChatBlazer to create more targeted chat rooms aimed at their own field of interest.Community Connect Inc. has offered chat services since it launched its first web site in 1997.The first six years, the company created chat rooms using in-house technology. It shifted to ChatBlazer in 2003 because of the technology’s stability, reliability and feature functionality.

 

“Using ChatBlazer we have created a vibrant, versatile communications platform that our members depend on to share information and develop personal relationships,” said Benjamin Sun, President and CEO at Community Connect Inc. “Now we’re looking forward to taking the technology to a new level, creating celebrity chats that thousands of members can access and enjoy.”

 

About SolidSpace

ChatBlazer, www.chatblazer.com, is developed by SolidSpace LLC.  SolidSpace is a leading provider of dynamic hosting infrastructure and client support that includes website, application and database hosting, managed services, collocation and broadband services, as well as intuitive web-based collaborative technologies such as weblogs, instant messaging and web surveys. Through the software as a service format, users are empowered to easily maintain a powerful, interactive web presence that boosts visibility and customer attraction. SolidSpace LLC is headquartered in Winston-Salem , N.C. , and is a portfolio company of SilkRoad Equity LLC (www.silkroadequity.com). For more information, visit www.solidspace.com.

 

About Community Connect Inc.

Community Connect Inc. is the industry leader of online communities for U.S. ethnic audiences. Our sites are AsianAvenue.com, BlackPlanet.com and MiGente.com. We offer marketers and advertisers the opportunity to reach the three largest audiences of multicultural consumers —Asian Americans, African Americans and Hispanic Americans. We offer online consumers our proprietary technology tools that enable them to form and engage in culturally-oriented communities. More than just content, our sites offer members instant communication and networking opportunities, resulting in a highly personalized and meaningful community experience. To find out more about Community Connect, go to www.communityconnect.com.