Latino Rebranded: Latinos and Social Media

Subtitle:  FourSquare Takes off and Latinos along with it.

Recently, I signed up on FourSquare. I’m not sure why, but I thought it may be the new hip thing.  Then SXSW happened, and FourSquare took off.

Here’s an email I though I’d share from Jeff Puliver I received today concerning his observations:

At South By Southwest 2010 (SXSW), a strange thing happened on the way to Austin. A community of twitter faithful shifted from sharing everything about everything on only twitter (and maybe Facebook) and changed their habits to rely on learning about what was happening and where things were happening by using Foursquare and Gowalla instead.

In the year since SXSW, a number of my friends became passionate and dependent on using Foursquare and/or Gowalla as the platform to share where they were and what was happening around them. Here at SXSW, this has been taken to a new level. It turns out that if you are spending time around your friends and you have a chance to speak to them almost at will, there is something to be said about only sharing your location information and then having the ability to make decisions of what to do (or where not to go) base on this information.

Based on an unscientific poll of a few people I spoke to yesterday during lunch on Sunday, a typical comment shared was: “I haven’t been on twitter for 2 days. Not sure when I was on last on Facebook. Instead I just look on Foursquare for what is happening and where it is happening.” These words were shared by almost everyone I spoke with.

In terms of who may be winning the Foursquare / Gowalla popularity contest, all I can say is that at SXSW, members of the Foursquare team have done a great job of making themselves known. To date I have only run into one person from Gowalla and that was on my flight from NYC to Austin.

What does any of this this really mean? I’m not entirely sure. But I do believe SXSW 2010 will be known as the time Foursquare came of age and the place where at least one community’s dependence on twitter has shifted and their use of twitter changed, albeit slightly.

I don’t know where it’s going, but it’s hot right now. If you’re on FourSquare, please friend request me.

And before anyone asks…no, I don’t have any stats on Latinos there (the site is too new), but there ARE Latinos present – gasp! – and a whole lot of Latino venues.

Here is a GREAT post with real examples of how businesses are utilizing this technology.

Happy trails!

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A couple of weeks ago I set the stage for a question:  Do you see yourself as a Hispanic man…or a man?

When you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, who stares back at you?  A man or a Latino?  A woman or a Latina?  When is it that you walk into your culture…is it when you get dressed, or prepare your meal or turn on some music?

How would a Black man respond?  Does a white man see a white man or a man?

I wonder how many Latinos see themselves as men (or women) first, and then Latino – or vice versa.

Your answer may show how culture dominates your outlook, and I’d imagine differing generations would have varying degrees present.

Personally, when I wake up I’m disassociated with the conversation of  society – it’s just me and the new day.  Slowly the reality and conversations of the world catches up to me and I done the cloth of culture.

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Subtitle: It is not the people that should look to businesses, businesses should look to the people.

Our visions of where influence derives is skewed.  Professionals do not make influential changes, but only identify, define, and market them.

Trends

In his book “The Tipping Point,” Gladwell talks about Hush Puppies shoes and how they went from almost being discontinued to a hugely successful brand.  Hush Puppies became a fad in lower Manhattan not on purpose, not because of a campaign, not because of any professional efforts, but because a few “kids” decided they were cool and the shoes became trendy and hip with their peers. 

Let’s look at social media for a minute.  The true value of social media is not the communication platform, but what that communication brings to the table.  Social media enables a company to gain vital insight to where markets are going by talking with the public.

Companies and Social Media

Companies need to talk to their customers to see what they are thinking.  Companies are usually ‘out-of-the-loop’ when it comes to what is being said on the ’streets;’  social media provides insight and establishes a public ‘advisory board’ that leads executives and marketing professionals to decide what to bring to the market – or discontinue.

The Public

Unbeknownst to the average person, it is they that are the true content providers and definers.  With the help of social media, this is slowly being realized – more people are providing top-notch content and participating in global dialogues.

Profitability is where professionals come in.  Once the public figures out how to crack this threshold, it is at that moment that that industry becomes open to change and revolution.

Here’s a modified statement from a popular quote for the movie “V for Vendetta” – It is not the people that should look to businesses, businesses should look to the people. Oh, so true.

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Subtitle: Are there Latinas in social media? You betcha!

I am driven by We-media – content produced by the public – and am inspired when others share the same drive. A few of my online-cohorts are proposed speakers for a panel at the Blogher conference here in NYC.

Latinas are one of the fastest growing segment of bloggers. In this session, you can understand who we are, why we blog, where we are coming from and where we’re going…Our session will focus on Latinas as a group and how we are using social media to develop relationships and promote our businesses with a distinct flavor. Each of the panel speakers has effectively used social media to promote either her blog, home business, or herself as a brand.

Please take the time to go over and vote for their panel.

Hint: If you want to find engaged mommy bloggers, go follow #BlogHer on Twitter.

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As it turns out, they are everywhere that everyone else is and more.

Hispanics are going to websites that the rest of the world are using which are Yahoo, Google and Microsoft but at the same time there are niche websites that allow Hispanics to socialize within their own communities as well as to search for information such as news, sports and entertainment within Latin America.

Social media, in the same stride is a great place to find ‘real-time’ Hispanics.

Go over and read my friend Frankie’s blog – a contributing voice to the online Hispanic dialogue (the post is a few months old, but still relevant because people ask me this all the time).

Update: Related – Breakdown of Hispanics online.

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Subtitle:  Are you a Spanglish speaker or a bilingual text message sender?
(via @MauraHernandez)

My Blackberry is set to auto-check, because I’m infamously known for misspelling words.

Quite a few times, when tapping out an email I’ve noticed that spell check wants to change ‘gracias’ to Garcia.  I find it hilarious.  Yes, I can just ‘add’ it to the dictionary but what I’m really curious if 1) the word is ever going to be added to the dictionary, or 2) the software will ever be made ’smart’ enough to see that I use that term constantly and auto-add itself.

A fellow Twittero has experienced the same:

I’m curious if anyone else out there has any stories to share?

UPDATE:  We have some more…pretty funny, updates from @MauraHernandez:

Add yours!

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To continue on the Hispanic Media Conferences 2010 post, I’ve become aware of two more:

NAHJ, has ten multimedia journalism training sessions in Texas, Feb 20. Blogging, social media and content creation will rule these workshops.

Very innovative and keeping in pace of a trend in the Latino sphere – from their website: The New Generation Latino Consortium (NGLC), the only professional organization of its kind dedicated to the enhancement of the New Generation Latino audience, is proud to announce ‘The NGLC Media, Marketing & Entertainment Conference’ taking place in New York City on April 5, 2010.

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There are a couple of  posts on the chopping board right now, but they are in draft stages at the moment.  In my effort to give quality content I cannot ‘push-button-publish’ them just yet.

Against my better judgment,  I’ll share a post that has not quite made it to a draft just yet…it concerns a Hispanic man, or woman who defines themselves as a man…or woman, and not a ‘Hispanic’ man/woman.

This thought recalls the line made by the famous black actor, Sidney Poitier, in the 1960’s movie, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” – “Dad, the difference between you and me is that you see yourself as a colored man, and I see myself as a man.”

Of course, the context is quite different here than from the movie, but the statement is relevant and profound.

More later…

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With the announcement of Google Buzz, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Comments feature in blogs.  I don’t want to say that Buzz is necessarily bad for blogs, but it can de-augment a very powerful pillar of blogging – the Comments section.

Let me back up a little.

In October, I talked about the importance of publishing your content on a blog that you own versus a social media site like Facebook or Twitter.  I subtitled the post as “Centralized Me,” to build on the concept of concentrating your content to one main platform.

The Comment’s section of a blog is the site’s social component, for without it a blog is only a new media site with a one way conversation void of reader interaction.

Google Buzz, in essence does to your blog’s comments what other social media sites does to your content – spreads it far and wide.  If readers use Buzz the exposure of your blog will be multiplied, which is every blogger’s dream.  But I have to ask, will those who use Buzz also comment on your blog?

Latino Rebranded integrates a button called TweetMeme and if you look, more people Tweet posts than actually comment.  On Facebook, my followers comment or “like” my blog posts, as well as Networked Blogs – a Facebook application that delivers new posts to people’s inbox and utilizes an RSS feed as well.   Now Buzz, can be added to the list.  (I just had the thought that an opportunity exists for a program to pool together all these outside conversations and dump them into one spot – the Comment section.  Maybe it already exists?)

Taking all of the above into consideration, the ‘push-button’ interaction that they all offer will subtly deter comments because in the mind of the reader they already have commented – in the form a tweet, a buzz or a ‘like’.

I’m not saying to not use any of these services, because they are great tools that leverage your blog’s exposure – and that’s what you want!  But, with the awareness of conversations happening outside your Comment section you can start thinking of ways to harness them for the benefit of your blog.

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While social media is undeniably hot, without evidence of burning out, many established organizations and businesses have been exceedingly slow in accepting social media as the new engagement platform.  In the face of prudence, speculation and convention, enthusiasts – evangelists – have pressed forward with a new and unpredictable, yet powerful and stable form of communication that has haulted an entire industry and forced it look over its shoulders.

In many ways, social media has just begun – 2010, will be its pivot.  Pre-2010 will be looked back as social media being considered only an addition to already established marketing tools, but post-2010 social media will be viewed as a major factor, even replacing traditional media.

Hispanic organizations will be on the far end of the tail, as Hispanics are mostly a conservative population.  To the older generation, social media represents…is, change.  However, the younger generation is embracing new media in droves.  Somewhere in the near future – post 2011? – there will be a huge explosion of Hispanic based industries and organizations in social media.

These are my observations, not my judgments.  I think social media will continue to influence its way into every business sector and will be the fast track to Hispanic related communications.  The fact that Hispanics are the quickest and most abundant adopters of new technologies and media, should move every decision-maker toward the promised land of social media.  Will you be joining me?

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