AFRICAN-AFRICAN BUYING POWER RISES GREATLY

NEW YORK African Americans constitute the largest racial minority market, wielding greater economic clout than ever before, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth.

That sector's buying power was $318 billion in 1990. But 18 years later, African-American buying power equaled $913 billion, and is projected to increase to $1.24 trillion in 2013, per Selig. That would mark a 35.7 percent gain over those five years.

The African-American Internet population reflects the high percentage of young people in the general African-American community: 30 percent overall are under age 18, and 71 percent of that group is online.

While 45 percent of African-American households had some type of Internet access in 2007, this group is more likely than white Americans to surf the 'Net via mobile phone, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.