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Comment by tempire | Hacker News Reader

Did you read the article? Your comment is exactly the perspective the article is addressing. They cited acknowledged experts in the field, whereas you've cited "common sense", a subjective term that means nothing without context.

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All that it established, if you read between the lines, is that there is a clear market for hair products for women with curly hair, and that the companies that produce those products are looking at targeting those women to sell those products.

It does not address exactly what a social network would accomplish for the consumer beyond acting as a conduit for advertising. That's where the issue is.

If you go to the site, it's not actually a social network. I mean, it has what looks like an off the shelf forum attached, but basically it's a super targeted eHow with a really good affiliate marketing strategy.

Every website is a social network in its press release. Journalists will repeat those descriptions. Don't fight it, you'll lose your mind.

The article makes no mention of people with curly hair meeting each other as a market. It discusses people having curly hair (and, mostly, taking care of it) as a market.

Right. Which is why I doubt the business model of a social network. Perhaps a group buying thing or an Amazon (or etsy) for curly hair products might work. But a social network? That's a stretch. 2 million uniques doesn't mean much if you're talking about a sustainable business model. Uniques do not equal revenue. There are wastelands of social networks that had many more users than 2 million. Also, how was that 2 million verified? 2 million uniques would generally warrant a higher fundraise, the investors are likely betting on a potential business rather than an actual. What's the bounce rate? What's the time on site? What's the demographic profile of the user -- those important questions matter more than a vanity metric of 2 million uniques. Are people engaged with the site? What's the growth rate? 2 million from what? What's the engagement profile? There are a lot of questions that would need answering before assuming that this network is a 'good' idea. Race has nothing to do with it. I'd invest in anything that could turn a profit. Investing only because it addresses a particular racial group without quantifiable metrics -- now THAT'S racist.

Curly hair isn't limited to one ethnic group. There is a actually numbering system for curls (1A-4C, with some permutations) and it traverses different ethnic groups. The numbers are used to make product recommendations, exchange info, etc.

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