Clicking
in Tongues:
Networking Offers
Hispanic Flair
By Jeffery Zbar
The Social Network sports a distinctly cultural
flavor. Between Latin sites ElHood.com and Quepasa.com,
and the phenomenally popular English-language destination
MySpace.com, social networking sites have become a cross-cultural
concept.
Marketers see Hispanics online. And they are socially networked.
In growing numbers, Hispanic consumers are connected via
the Internet and like their non-Hispanic counterparts, they’re
turning to free online services like MySpace.com, Facebook.com
and other social networking services to link up, share their
thoughts and learn about their favorite celebrities, movies
and more.
This
trend is no surprise. The U.S. is home to some 44.2 million
Hispanics, with roughly a third being Internet users, according
to eMarketer Inc. Some figures note that second-generation
U.S. Hispanics visit English-language sites some four-fifths
of the time, and a whopping 90 percent of Hispanic teens
use the Web. More than half of Hispanic Internet users e-mail,
instant message and blog—surpassing even their non-Hispanic
counterparts.
Social networking is getting some very mainstream attention.
Lazona.com, a Spanish-only site from MTV Networks Latin
America, is competing with ElHood.com, a bilingual service
that has received several rounds of funding. The Spanish
language site Neurona.com is a business-focused site ideally
suited to those looking to build a business network. Unlike
most sites, which are populated by younger 18-to-34-year-old
tech-savvy users, Neurona and similar sites lure users seeking
business leads, job recruitment and other professional exploits.
On
most sites, users create custom profiles and add content—from
words to music, pictures, graphics and videos. Users can
message one another, post blogs, build user lists and stay
connected.
Even as such sites change how people connect, “networking”
itself is evolving. Now, it is going mobile. Conexion Latina
has partnered with major U.S. cellphone networks to create
online services in Spanish. The services, from Sprint Nextel,
T-Mobile and Verizon, will carry different names. But each
will offer subscribers such features as instant messaging,
blogging and photo sharing from their cellphone. Canadian
mobile software company AirG acknowledges such a service
will help marketers reach the 1 million of AirG’s
subscribers who are Spanish speakers—and who don’t
surf strictly from a traditional PC terminal. Among the
marketers reportedly onboard to reach this audience: Dunkin’
Donuts, American Express, Schick and Mercedes-Benz.
Social
networking also is part of the move to Web 2.0—and
Hispanic content is no exception. The Web 2.0 concept consists
of sites more geared toward and fed by user-developed content,
as opposed to content created by the site’s owner.
Hence, the sites are driven uniquely by user experiences
and content, which in turn drives more user visits—and
peer involvement. More than networking, such users—and
owners—are looking to build a community, says Robert
B. Stearns, chairman and CEO of Quepasa, the Scottsdale,
Arizona-based Hispanic networking service with parallel
sites in Spanish and English. Social networking is about
entertainment; adding community brings empowerment and enrichment
that will “lift one another in a way that’s
beyond just showing each other pictures,” he says.
Quepasa for one will survey its 300,000-plus bicultural
users, gathering opinions on politics and brand preferences—and
champion the feedback by sending community responses to
media and government. The company also will use its member
base to run corporate surveys, though the user list will
be protected, Stearns says.
It
should be no surprise that even “Hispanic” services
don’t have to be in Spanish to attract Hispanic users,
says Laura Martinez, editor of Marketing y Medios, a Hispanic
advertising and marketing magazine. Regardless of the language,
bilingual Hispanic youth and younger adult users are finding
their way to social networking sites. In fact, success with
such sites—like Quepasa.com, MySpace.com or Hi5.com—is
not about being culturally relevant or even in-language.
It’s about getting the right buzz from users, who,
in turn, lure more friends to the service, she says. In
fact, such success is drawing users from across the border;
Martinez has a nephew in Mexico whose clique of friends
use Hi5.com—in English.
“What is cool is to be where all your friends are,”
she says.
But
marketers who advertise on the sites must beware the content
that’s posted. With risqué or questionable
content that’s known to pop up on the sites, some
offended users are steering clear—and advertisers
could suffer a stigma.
“At some point, these sites have no control over what’s
being posted,” Martinez says. “That’s
a big challenge for marketers. A lot of advertisers left
because they don’t want to be associated with poor
content.”
