Lifestyle

For years, Latinos have been held back by the “digital divide,” an information and technology gap standing between them and wealthier audiences that enjoy greater access to expensive computers and broadband connections. But two Internet trends will close that gap in 2011 and beyond: mobile and social media. In fact, experts predict that Hispanics could actually become leaders in adoption of new technology.

Here's where the gap still exists today: In home computer ownership. Six out of ten Hispanic households have a computer and broadband access, according to Jerry Rocca, Senior Director of Mobile Media and Advertising at Nielsen Online, a leading media research firm. And in a recent report from the Pew Hispanic Trust, Hispanics still lag using the Internet by fourteen percentage points relative to non-Hispanics.

But, that only counts Internet usage from a computer. Once you factor in cell phones, Hispanics trail non-Hispanics by only 10 percent, according to Pew. In other words, mobile devices have actually reduced the digital divide by a full four percentage points.

In his recent presentation at ad:tech, an online advertising trade show, Rocha showed that Hispanics spend more time watching video on their phones and text messaging. And, unsurprisingly, 54% of Hispanics who bought a phone in the last 6 months bought a smart phone, significantly outpacing the 40% of Caucasians who did so.

Why is that? Many Hispanics substitute their cell phones for a home computer, especially smart phones. Hispanic households often abandon their landlines to become cell-phone only, in part to lower costs and save money. A recent white paper from the research firm Encuesta shows that 28 percent of Hispanic adults live in cell phone only households, in comparison to 19 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

In social media, Hispanics have actually moved ahead of the general market. Nielsen shows that 62% of Hispanics online partook in social networking activities online versus 38% for Caucasians. That's a huge difference. 

Minority Internet users are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as are white Internet users, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. The first-ever survey of Twitter use from Pew shows that 18 percent of Hispanics online use Twitter in comparison to 5 percent of their white counterparts.

So, what will happen to the Latino audience with the sea change of mobile and social media? Tomorrow’s “digital divide” might soon leap Latinos ahead of the late adopters of mobile and social media behind them.

We can look to Mexico as a proxy for the U.S. Hispanic market. Of the 105 million people in Mexico, 30 million Mexicans use the Internet from their computers, according to the country’s census statistics. That represents, for the most part, the country’s middle and upper classes. But today, 70 million Mexicans already own cell phones. So, Mexico’s digital audience has more than doubled because of the new, less expensive mobile technology. And, its lower income population has leapfrogged ahead.

Joe Kutchera is the author of Latino Link: Building Brands Online with Hispanic Communities and Content and a speaker and advisor on reaching Hispanics online.