Wasow, Omar
1970-present · Contribution: 1993-2008
Internet Entrepreneur & Political Scientist
Co-founded BlackPlanet in September 1999, one of the first true social networking sites, predating Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook by years, built specifically as a digital gathering space for Black internet users
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1970
- Active since
- 1993
- Category
- AI & Social Media
- Best known for
- BlackPlanetEarly social networkPolitical scientist
Impact on the world
Wasow helped invent social networking itself, building a digital gathering space for Black internet users years before the era's dominant platforms and pioneering features they would adopt. He proved a Black-audience online community could reach massive scale when investors doubted it.
An alternative history
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Sources
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