Posts Tagged: social networking
Career app links Latinos
Latinc provides a culturally-attuned professional social network
When software developer and information technology specialist Claritza Abreu first came to the U.S., she felt lost. She arrived from the Dominican Republic with the skills and degree worthy of a good job, but without the personal and professional connections to find one.
Now, many years later, Abreu's resume boasts a long list of high-level positions, and she is looking to smooth the way for other Latino individuals, whether they are recent immigrants, college graduates or others.
In early June, Abreu launched Latinc, a career-oriented social networking site and app tailored for the Latino community.
“I've been doing mentoring on a one-on-one basis, trying to help people,” Abreu said, “and I thought, ‘Can I do something more massive?'”
She found her answer in Latinc, whose structure she describes as a convergence of Facebook and LinkedIn
“It is the first and only mobile app for Latino professionals to connect,” Abreu said. “It's for professionals but more interactive and socially oriented. We wanted people to develop closer relationships for them to support each other in their professional careers.”
How it works
Latinc invites users to create profiles, request mentoring from another member, view daily suggested job openings and take industry-relevant low-cost online training courses. Members are encouraged to represent their full selves, Abreu said, including their heritage. Users identify their own or their family's country of origin with a flag icon attached to their profiles, which she says provides another connection point. In the future, users also will be able to identify as part of certain non-ethnic communities, such as LGBTQ, veterans or people with disabilities.
The platform's cultural attunement is incorporated in minor profile aspects as well, such as the ability for users to enter two first names and two last names.
Employers interested in drawing applicants from or otherwise connecting with Latino communities have reached out to Latinc leadership. These include the Massachusetts state department of education, Liberty Mutual and Latino professional organizations.
“This is going to be one single source where they can reach out to professionals — not only for recruitment, but also to the Latino community as one of the largest consumer markets in the United States to market products and services,” Abreu said.
Moving forward
The app and website are offered in Spanish and English, and there are plans to expand into Portuguese and French. Featured online trainings are not currently tied to accreditation programs, but talks are underway with colleges and other organizations to explore such a move.
Thus far, the platform is U.S.-only and focuses particularly on an audience of Latino millennials, which Abreu notes currently make up the largest minority group graduating from college.
The firm's revenue model is similar to other social media, with dollars coming in from advertising, company memberships, premium membership and job postings.
Latinc leadership is in talks with investors, and additional funding could accelerate marketing efforts — which Abreu says has been the most difficult part. The company has been spreading awareness on social media, as well as at Latino professional events. While the platform still is working to grow membership, Abreu says feedback has been positive and even non-Latino individuals have joined the site and app.
Abreu co-founded the platform with partner Mueen Delvi. Latinc now comprises a six-person Boston-based team and another six-person team in India. Abreu works part time at Latinc now, but if all goes well, she anticipates making it a full-time pursuit by January.
Source: Published originally on www.baystatebanner.com, Career app links Latinos, by Jule Pattison-Gordon on August 30, 2017
Growing gap between younger and older Hispanics
Younger Hispanics have very different media preferences than their grandparents and even their parents. They have their own unique language preference. And they're much more educated.
This has over time shaped a unique demographic group that advertisers should be courting quite differently than the older one.
A new report from Nielsen takes an in-depth look at the Hispanic demographic, in which these growing differences emerge.
It's a fascinating portrait of a group that will account for “virtually all (93 percent) of the growth of the nation's working-age population between now and 2050.”
Right now there are nearly 57 million U.S. Hispanics. By 2020 that number will balloon to 119 million, or just 60 million shy of the number of non-Hispanic whites, who are on the decline.
Here's a look at three areas where the differences between younger and older Hispanics are most stark.
Language
Language is an age-old struggle for those targeting Hispanics. For years previous to 2000, much of the U.S. Hispanic population were immigrants, and they spoke Spanish, the language of their native country, usually Mexico.
But the vast majority of American Hispanics are now born in this country, and that's led to a language divide.
Nielsen says that among adults 55 and over, 35 percent are Spanish-dominant, compared to a mere 4 percent of those under 18, and 14 percent of Millennials.
It's not just Spanish where the differences come, though. Less than half of 55-and-overs are bilingual, while 58 percent of those under 34 speak both languages.
The takeaway: This gap will continue to grow with greater assimilation and as fewer kids grow up in homes with foreign-born Hispanics.
Media
This is the area where young and old most differ. Hispanic Millennials are voracious consumers of new media. For example, 91 percent use social media compared to 64 percent of those over 35.
Interestingly, young Hispanics' media device ownership closely mimics non-Hispanics rather than Hispanics over 35. So, for instance, 88 percent of Hispanic Millennials have smartphones compared to 86 percent of non-Hispanics and 68 percent of Hispanics over 35.
And there are vast difference between consumption of traditional media such as cable and broadcast, as detailed in the chart below.
The takeaway: When targeting this demographic, it's important to do it by age group to determine which media to use.
Education
Young Hispanics are more educated than their older counterparts, and becoming more so every year.
Sixty-seven percent of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college from 2012 to 2014.
“The number of 18-to-24-year-old Hispanics enrolled in a two- or four-year college more than tripled between 1993 and 2013: 2.2 million Hispanics enrolled in 2013 versus 728,000 in 1993. That trend has made Hispanics the largest diversity group on U.S. college campuses,” Nielsen notes.
There are more Hispanics to seek out these opportunities, for sure, but the growth is still stunning.
The takeaway: This will result in a more affluent Hispanic demographic going forward. Already, the number of Hispanic households making $100,000 annually has more than doubled from 2000 to 2014.
This article is part of an ongoing Media Life series entitled “Catching the next big wave: Hispanic media.” You can read previous stories by clicking here
Source: Published originally on medialifemagazine.com as Growing gap between younger and older Hispanics, by the editors of Media Life, September 1, 2016
Four things to know about the Hispanic tech consumer
ONE: Hispanics are Mobile Mavens
With mobile consumption and device adoption ever on the rise, marketers looking for the vanguard leading the mobile revolution need look no further than U.S. Hispanics: 81% of Hispanic mobile subscribers own a smartphone and they are using them to engage with brands on a deeper level. In fact, Hispanics are 80% more likely than their non-Hispanic counterparts to actually purchase the products they see advertised on their mobile devices. Plus, they are more socially connected with friends and family, they keep up with culturally relevant topics, and they actively seek out deals and make purchases – all day long, all on their smartphones.
TWO: Hispanics Watch More Digital Video
Hispanic consumers both stream and download video content to a greater degree than non-Hispanics: 20% more likely to download, and 18% more likely to stream. They watch an average of 11+ hours of video on a desktop, and 2+ hours on a smartphone each month – more time spent than the U.S. average on either platform.
THREE: Connected at Home
At-home tech gurus, Hispanics are at the forefront of connected device adoption. They have more of the most cutting-edge devices in their homes than non-Hispanics. According to Nielsen's most recent Total Audience Report, they over index the total population for having high-tech items in their households such as HD TVs (89% of Hispanic households vs. 86% of the total U.S. households), video gaming consoles (54% vs. 46%) and enabled smart TVs (15% vs. 12%).
FOUR: Social Influence Like No Other
Culturally, Hispanics are particularly well connected in their personal lives with broad, influential networks of friends and family, and the same connectivity rings true in the digital world. They share 5x more often than non-Hispanics via social media, and the content they share is 35% more likely to be clicked on by others. With 79% of online Hispanics reporting they have a presence on social media sites, their scale combined with their engagement is unparalleled.
Source: Originally published on Univision.com as Four Things to Know about the Hispanic Tech Consumer by John Kelly, January 9, 2015.
Social networking sites and Hispanics and emerging minorities
According to a recent study conducted by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University, the two reasons for using social networking sites that stood up most significantly were: “Keeping up with new trends,” and “asking friends and relatives about their opinions on products to buy.”
![socialNetworking socialNetworking](http://ucanr.org/blogs/LatinoBriefs/blogfiles/7773.jpg)
There are several important implications of these findings. First, as other surveys have shown, emerging minorities are more engaged with the new media and are likely to use it as a source of information for their lifestyle and consumer behavior.
Further, Latinos who prefer Spanish are even more engaged with social networking sites for obtaining guidance and knowing about things like fashion. While Spanish dominant Hispanics have lagged in the adoption of online technologies, they are now fast adopting them and once they adopt these technologies they seem to strongly depend on them. The researchers indicate that synergies of social media and traditional electronic and print media are likely to be important and should be capitalized upon to create conversations and discussions. The virtual social world is opening enormous possibilities to people, and it is creating a new system of influence. Growing minorities appear to be eager to break traditional barriers.
![socialNetworking2 socialNetworking2](http://ucanr.org/blogs/LatinoBriefs/blogfiles/7774.jpg)