Latinos Are The Most Active On Social Media: Pew Report

On Monday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released another survey tracking the use of social networking sites by adults in the United States, a statistic that the group has been following since at least 2005. In it, Pew reports, among other things, that Hispanics use social media at a rate of 80 percent, as opposed to 72 percent overall.

Pew Internet has conducted the study on the use of social networking sites in the U.S. since February of 2005, when just 8 percent of online adults were using social media. Now, that percentage has grown to 72 percent, though the uptick has slowed since 2010, according to Pew's graph below.

Unsurprisingly, when Pew broke down the numbers, young adults aged 18 to 29 years old were, by far, the most prodigious adopters of social media, using it at a significantly (statistically) higher rate than others. However, while seniors are less likely than all other age groups to be on social media, their numbers have tripled in the last four years, so don't be surprised if next year half of all people 65 and older are on social media.

80 Percent of Latinos Use Social Media

A very interesting statistic in the Pew Internet report comes when Pew breaks down the results of their survey into Race/Ethnicity categories. Leading social media usage, 80 percent of Hispanic adults use social networks, as opposed to 72 percent overall, and, broken down into demographic groups, 70 percent white, non-Hispanic and 75 percent black, non-Hispanic adults. The difference between Hispanic social media usage and non-Hispanic, white social media usage was statistically significant.

Though this is a high water mark for Latino participation in social media, Latinos in the U.S. have been leading the charge for a while. Pew conducted the same survey way back in 2009, for example, and Latinos were already leading the charge. To refresh your memory, 2009 was when MySpace was the king of social networks: in that year, Pew found that "among adults, MySpace is the most popular online social network," and half of adults who used social media had a profile on the now struggling social network. Latinos, at that time, were using social media at a rate of 48 percent, compared to 35 percent overall.

So What?

Social media, like nearly every other sector of the U.S. technology market, have a huge and growing segment of the public that is by nearly all measures, becoming the most technologically engaged part of the U.S.: Latinos are using social media at a higher rate than average (including high-tech niches like Reddit), owning smartphones at a higher than average rate, and consuming entertainment via new media at an ever-increasing rate.

With such a technologically savvy demographic, which is only growing in numbers, as well as economic and consumer power, technology companies are not only going to have to learn to market their products more effectively to Latinos, but also design their products with this audience in mind.

A good start could be with something like wearable technology - like Google's famously geeky looking smartglasses, Google Glass. Google has already received criticism about the awkward look and function of Glass, one person at the recent Wearable Tech Expo in New York saying, "it feels more like a Segway." So why not try to make Glass more of a fashion accessory - one that can be tethered to a mid-range smartphone - and maybe garner some young Latinos' opinions on the design?

Because if Glass (or other wearables, or any other technology) is the future of tech, young Latinos are a huge segment of future consumers that will make or break its success.