Online Hispanic Trends

Online Multicultural & Hispanic Marketing Courses Offered by Florida State University

Starting August 29, Florida State University will offer for the first time an online course on Multicultural Marketing Communication. Multicultural marketing is one of the newest horizons in US marketing but there is little consensus as to its meaning, implications, and scope. The job of this course is to attempt to conceptually and pragmatically clarify the field and assess the boundaries of this growing discipline.   

Also starting on August 29, FSU offers its well established online course on Hispanic Marketing Communication. This course has been taken by several hundred students and professionals and has received excellent reviews for the information it provides and for being a forum for students and professionals to share their experiences and grow as seasoned marketers working with US Hispanics. The course focuses on strategic considerations for reaching out to US Hispanics and emphasizes a cultural connection. 

Both courses last 16 weeks (classes begin August 29 and end December 16, 2011), and they are asynchronous so that students can work at their own pace. Professionals receive a certificate of completion, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit. 

These two courses are part of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University. 

Registration is open now and you are encouraged to apply soon. These affordable online courses are part of an ongoing effort of the Center to provide continuing education and serving the community. 

To inquire and register write to: Inquiries@campus.fsu.edu 

The Latino Digital Divide and Young Latinos' Cell Phone Usage

The Pew Hispanic Center released two new reports today: The Latino Digital Divide: The Native Born versus The Foreign Born and How Young Latinos Communicate with Friends in the Digital Age

One of the key findings in the first report is that technology among foreign born Latinos still lags behind their U.S.-born counterparts, especially in the area of Internet use.

  

The second report on how young Latinos communicate provides some great data on how Latinos ages 16-25 use their cell phones to communicate as summarized in the table below, the differences between natives and foreign born, and cell phone ownership and use as compared to young non-Hispanics.

 

Source: The Pew Hispanic Center

IAB Releases Report on the Online Hispanic Market

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently released a very interesting report on the state of the U.S. online Hispanic Market entitled U.S. Latinos Online: a driving force.

The report consolidates data from a number of resource to provide a detailed look at the size, growth and dynamics of the online Hispanic Market.

You can download the report here. 

Social Media and Mobile Internet Use of Hispanic Teens and Young Adults

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently published a report entitled Social Media & Mobile Internet Use of Teens and Young Adults. 

A few of the more interesting findings on teens and young adults in general include: 

• Blogging and commenting on blogs by teens and young adults has decreased since 2006 while it has increased among older adults (from 28% to 14%),
• Both teen and adult use of social networking sites has increased significantly, but the sites where teens and young adults maintain their profiles are different, with 66% using MySpace compared to 36% of those 30 and over, and most interesting....
• Only 8% of Internet users age 12-17 use Twitter.

With respect to Latino teens and young adults, the results of Pew's research show that:

• Although not as often as White teens and young adults, Hispanic teens and young adults report going online once a day or three to five times a week.

• Although laptops have overtaken desktops as the computer of choice, Hispanic adults are less likely than White adults to own a desktop or laptop computer.

• Along with young adults, Hispanics and African‐Americans are more likely to go online wirelessly. According to the report "Half of all African‐American adults (48%) have used their cell phone to access the internet, compared with 40% of Hispanic adults and just 31% of white adults."

Media Usage Way Up for Kids and Teens, but Particularly for Black and Latino Children

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released a report that shows that the amount of time young people are spending with entertainment media has increased signifcantly over the past five years, rising from 6.21 hours to 7.38. When taking into account "media multitasking," the number actually adds up to 10:45 minutes per day.

Among other interesting findings, the results of the study show that mobile media and social networking are driving this increased consumption, and that Black and Hispanic children spend much more time with media than White children do - 13:00 hours of of total media exposure for Hispanics, 12:59 for Blacks, and 8:36 for Whites.

The news release says that "top online activities include social networking (:22 a day), playing games (:17), and visiting video sites such as YouTube (:15).  Three-quarters (74%) of all 7th - 12th graders say they have a profile on a social networking site."

Source: PRNewswire

Latino Internet Use Being Fueled by Growth in Previously Underrepresented Groups

The Pew Hispanic Center just released a very interesting new report - Latinos Online, 2006-2008: Narrowing the Gap.

The report looks compares and contrasts internet use patterns of native-born latinos, foreign-born latinos, blacks and whites.

Some of the key findings include:

• Internet use among Latino adults rose by 10 percentage points from 54% in 2006 to 64% in 2008, as compared to four points for whites and two points for blacks.
• This increase has been fueled by a growth in use by groups who have typically had very low rates of internet use - foreign-born latinos, those with lower educational levels, and those with lower household incomes.
• Although there were not large changes in the number of Latinos accessing the internet from home, there were significant increases in the the numbers using broadband, as well as for whites and blacks.

To promote consistency, the surveys were done via landline, and being that there was a significant increase in the numbers of Latinos that only use cell phones during this same period, the researchers concluded that the numbers in this report may underestimate Latino internet use.

To see the full report: Latinos Online, 2006-2008

Using Mobile Technology to Make a Difference in the Hispanic Community

Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future, recently published a brilliant article that discusses how mobile technology can be used to make a difference in some key areas that affect the Hispanic community.

Referring to a recent study done by Mobile Future entitled Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of the Mobile, Connected Future, Jonathan points to data that shows that more than half of America's Hispanic population is using the mobile Internet as compared to one third of whites.  They also use more minutes and own more cell phones than other ethnic groups. 

Recognizing this opportunity, Mr. Spalter and this report highlight the importance of leveraging Hispanic's use of mobile technology in three key areas: health care, education and economic opportunity.

Read his full article to learn more about specific suggestions in these areas and download the report. 

Pew Data on Five Largest Hispanic Populations in U.S.

The Pew Hispanic Center recently published demographic profiles on the five largest Hispanic populations in the U.S. - Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican.

These detailed reports can be found on Pew's website and provide in-depth data to understand how each of these groups contrasts to the U.S. population as a whole and the overall Hispanic population.

Some interesting data points:

• Mexicans make up over two-thirds of the U.S. Hispanic population, with four in ten living in California.
• The number of Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. and DC is higher (4.1 million) than those living in Puerto Rico (3.9 million), and are the second largest population of Hispanic origin residing in the U.S.
• The share of Cubans who live in poverty (12.3) is much closer to the percentage of the overall U.S. population (11.9%) and below the share among all Hispanics (19.5%). 
• Six in ten Dominicans in the U.S. are foreign born, and eight out of ten live in the Northeast.

Recent Research on Language Preferences for the Online Hispanic Community

A study conducted of a nationally representative sample of 513 Hispanics in the Fall of 2008 produced some useful findings on the Hispanic community's online language preferences.

Over half (55%) of the sample interviewed said that they preferred English online.  However, among the 18-34 age bracket, 39% said they preferred Spanish-language sites, with more women preferring Spanish-language sites (42%) than men (29%).

Source: IPSOS Omnibus Study

Latinos in San Diego Increasingly Connected

A study conducted by Meneses Research and Associates looked at the online Latino population in San Diego in a survey of 643 individuals ages 18+.

The research found that a growing number of Latino consumers in San Diego County own computers and connect to the Internet, and the majority absorb media and advertising in a half-and-half mix of English and Spanish. 

Furthermore....

• 81 percent said they owned computers in contrast to 58% in 2004
• 73% said they connect to the Internet compared with 53 in 2004
• 35% said they intended to soon purchase a computer as compared to 17% in 2004
• Although more respondents watch television primarily in Spanish, most of those who listen to the radio and read print-media consume media in equal amounts of Spanish and English
• 82% prefer to receive advertising in both English and Spanish

Source: SignOnSandiego.com