Online Hispanic Trends

Public-Private Collaboration to Increase Latino Academic Achievement

Univision, the Department of Education and the Gates Foundation have recently teamed up on an exciting three-year, multi-platform national education initiative called "Es El Momento" (The Moment is Now) aimed at improving academic achievement of Hispanic K-12 students. The campaign is focused on improving the high school graduation rate, which is currently at 55 percent for the Hispanic population as compared to 69 percent for their non-Hispanics peers.

In addition to PSAs, TV and radio, the campaign is offering a comprehensive web presence and mobile resources, including questions and answers with the popular motivational radio personality Dr. Isabel, a school locator widget and weekly mobile text alerts with relevant educational tips. Visitors will also be able to find local resources through website feeds in the future. 

This is a terrific example of public private partnerships creatively coming together to address the pressing needs of the community. We should see more of this happening on a regular basis.

Check out the online presence here or by clicking the image below.

Source: Hispanicad.com

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

Walmart Focuses on Supporting Education for Hispanic Heritage Month

As part of Hispanic Heritage month, Walmart has launched a new campaign entitled "La Mejor Herencia es una Buena Educacion," ("the best heritage is a good education") with the goal of providing information and assistance to help Latinos gain access to higher education.

One component of the program will focus on enhancing www.AhorraMasViveMejor.com by creating a section that will connect parents and students with individuals committed to helping Hispanics achieve a higher education.

The portal will provide information and tools related to standardized tests and college placement exams, scholarship and financial aid, steps on choosing a college, and tips on writing admission essays in both English and Spanish and will be accessible throughout the year.

Read more about the campaign at Reuters.com

Hispanic Youth Make Up 22% of Total U.S. Youth Population

Pew Hispanic published a report in May '09 showing that 22% of the nation's youth are of Hispanic or Latino origin.

The data also shows that..

• 11% are first generation, i.e., they are foreign born.
• Over half (52%) of this group are second generation, meaning that they are the sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, and
• 37% are third generation, meaning they were born in the U.S. to U.S. born parents. 

View the full report for the details and more info on these important and growing segments.

U.S. Hispanic Online Audience Outpaces General Online Growth by 50%

Comscore released data today showing that the U.S. Online Hispanic audience outpaced the number of visitors, time spent, and pages consumed by 50%.  The data also shows that Hispanics are heavy users of online entertainment with the younger segment spending significant amounts of time (18% of total time spent) in teen-oriented communities and 13% of time going into gaming.  

“It’s well known that the Hispanic market is a growing and increasingly important segment to advertisers and marketers,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “However, any business attempting to effectively reach this segment needs to understand the behavior of the U.S. Hispanic online consumer as a fundamental component of their marketing and media strategies.”

Read more: Comscore

Online Hispanics: Younger, Very Social, and Accessing Internet via Cell Phones

A report by market research firm Mintel provides convincing evidence that online Hispanics are using the Internet to communicate using cell phones and computers at rates greater than other demographic groups.

The results of the survey analyzed in the report show that online Hispanics:

• Tend to be younger than the general online audience. Over 33% of online Hispanics were age 24 or younger in 2006.

• Are accessing the Internet via their cell phones. They browse the Internet via their cell phones more than three times as much as non-Hispanics per week (1.1 hours vs. 0.4 hours for non-Hispanics).

• Spend almost twice as much time using social networking sites and chatting via IM as non-Hispanics (5 hours vs. 3.5 hours).

• Are more likely to have social networking profiles than non-Hispanics (48% compared to 43% of Black Americans and 31% of Whites) and those aged 18-34 visit social networking websites 3.6 times a week on average, vs. just 1.3 times per week for over-35s.

Source: Cloud Computing Journal

Boy Scouts Targeting the Latino Community to Ensure the Organization’s Relevance in the Future

As part of their effort to increase their Latino numbers, the Boy Scouts has launched a million dollar pilot program to target boys and adults in six U.S. areas. Currently only three of every 100 Scouts are Latino.

The campaign approach will be to get Latino parents to see Scouting as “something that aligns with their hopes and dreams for their kids." and will involved radio commercials, public service announcements and messages on such social networking websites as Facebook.

Additional campaign measures include:

• Hiring more Latino staff to mirror the community they want to serve and facilitate recruitment efforts. The Boy Scouts have set a goal for doing recruiting bilingual and bicultural professionals by its 304 local councils across the U.S. Currently less than 10% are bilingual and bicultural.
• Providing access to more Spanish materials, including the Cub Scouts’ Wolf Handbook
• Recruiting high-profile Latinos to server on local boards
• Creating a Scouting and Soccer program to connect Scouting to the already very popular sport in the Latino community

Some Latinos “see such groups as an indulgence of the well-to-do in their home countries” and are uncomfortable with the official looking uniforms and complex applications that require social security numbers.

John Richers, the director of Fresno's Boy Scout council, says "It can't be all Norman Rockwell Caucasian guys like me," and hopes that “Scouting tomorrow looks more like Marcos Nava than John Richers. He adds that “We have to make sure we still have relevance in the new America, if you will."

"The vast majority can honestly say their grandfathers, fathers and uncles were not in Scouting as youths," says a fact sheet from the Scouts' marketing division. "This is an unfortunate reality when one takes into account that Hispanic Americans/Latinos are among the most 'brand loyal' consumers in this country."

Read full article in the Los Angeles Times

Top text messaging markets

Recent research by Scarborough Research finds that El Paso, Dallas, Salt Lake City and Memphis are the largest markets for text messaging.

In El Paso, 57% of cell phone subscribers text message versus that national average for adults across the U.S.

Those who are texting are 49% more likely to be between the ages of 18 to 24, 14% more likely to be Hispanic and 24% to be African American, so youth and cultural diversity are two key demographics for this service. 

The study also collected data on cell service spending and found that this group spends more on their cell services, $87 vs. average of $75 per month nationwide. 

They are also avid technology shoppers and more likely to shop online in general. 

This is all very useful data for marketers trying to effectively understand and target this important and growing segment.

View PDF Press Release

Hispanic teens set for strong mobile growth

A new report by Multimedia Intelligence says that Hispanics between the ages of 12 and 17 represent an important market segment for the U.S. wireless industry.

According to the report, Hispanic teens represent approximately 2.5 million subscribers and are expected to grow at a rate of two-to-three-times that of the overall U.S. teen market during the next five years.

They currently represent 16% of the overall teen market with a wireless penetration of 64% at the age of 15 and 78% at the age of 17.

Get full report