Home About Us Services News/Blog Clients Resources Contact Us
Hispanic Public Relations, news,
analysis, opinions and
other musings ...

Hispanic Public Relations Blog

Archive for September, 2009

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Hispanics Top The Charts In Use Of Social Media

Everyone is abuzz about the use of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and companies are all seeking ways to capitalize on their potential through bloggers, tweets, vodcasts, etc.  At the same time, questions remain as to how much of the public is engaged in social media.

The news about Hispanics has been encouraging: research has shown that more Hispanics use online social media on a regular basis than African-Americans or non-Hispanic whites.

Earlier this year, Dr. Felipe Korzenny of Florida State University released the study “The Multicultural World of Social Media.”  The study surveyed use of social media sites among 2500 people, with approximately 500 people in each of five groups: English-preferring Hispanics, Spanish-preferring Hispanics, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, and Non-Hispanic Whites.  The researchers determined the percentage of people in each group who used social media sites like Twitter, along with Facebook and MySpace, on a regular basis.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Census, Hispanic, HispanicPR, Latino, Population, Research, Social media, culture, language | 7 Comments »

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Hispanic Television Audience Seeing Unmatched Growth

The rapid growth of the Hispanic population in the US is translating into more business for broadcasters.  This season according to recent Nielsen data the Hispanic TV audience is projected to grow faster than the total US television audience or the audience for any other major ethnic market.

The US Hispanic audience is expected to grow 2.3 percent in 2009-2010.  In contrast, the overall audience is only expected to grow 0.3 percent, or about 400,000 homes.  Nielsen says it will be the smallest growth that the overall US audience has seen in 10 years.

African-American and Asian markets are also projected to grow in small amounts like that of the overall market, each at less than 1% over the year.

The considerable increase in the Hispanic audience meanwhile has got the attention of cable TV advertisers who increased their advertising budgets .6% for Hispanics in the first six months of 2009.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Census, Hispanic, HispanicPR, Latino, Network, Population, Spanish, language, ratings | 4 Comments »

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

El Boom De Los Bebes: The Rapid Rise of Hispanic Youth in America

As previously noted in this blog, the Hispanic population is growing rapidly.  Much of the growth of the population is fueled by younger Hispanics.  This growing number of Hispanics is mostly due to new births, not immigration.  Births accounted for about two-thirds of the increase in the  Hispanic population in 2008.  For that year, births outpaced deaths among Hispanics ten to one.

As Ken Gronback author of “The Age Curve,” recently told CNN, “Latinos have saved our country.   They represent 14 percent of the population but 25 percent of the live births. The United States is the only western industrialized nation with a fertility rate above the 2.2 percent replacement rate.”

Appreciating the young Hispanic population’s size and its characteristics is essential to understanding the Hispanic market.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Hispanic, HispanicPR, Latino, Population, Spanish, language | No Comments »

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Hispanic 101 (Part 5): The Spanish Language in the U.S. and Effective Translations

The Spanish language may seem daunting with so many different dialects in use among U.S. Hispanics.  Luckily, there is a common, non-regional version of Spanish used often among U.S. Hispanics in formal settings such as business and news media.  This version is has come to be known as “Walter Cronkite Spanish,” after the reporter once regarded as the most trusted man in America.  Walter Cronkite had a voice and manner of speaking that seemed to transcend all American accents and local idoms, a “generic” English, so to speak.  In turn, “Walter Cronkite Spanish” refers to a more formal, dictionary-based Spanish, free of regional idioms.

Formal Spanish is useful for Hispanics to communicate in business across national borders.  As such, when using “Walter Cronkite Spanish,” a bus is an “autobus”, not a “gua-gua”, a friend an “amigo”, a car an “automovil,” and so on.  These may not be the terms that some Hispanics use in their homes and personal lives, but they are terms they understand when used by others.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Hispanic, Hispanic 101, HispanicPR, Latino, Spanish, translation | 2 Comments »