Latino Rebranded: Latinos and Social Media

I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted the reason I made the transition from a Latino politics blogger to an active social media advocate within the Latino social media.  So here we go…

My original blog – LatinoPundit – served a purpose to fill a void of the lack of Latino bloggers.  I wanted to bring Latinos into mainstream discussions about politics and society, and also raise awareness of Latino subject matter.  That was done for over a period of 5 years.  Nowadays, you can find Latino blogs on a plethora of topics.  With that purpose now filled, there was no reason to continue with the Latino Pundit blog.

With the knowledge that the Latino population is growing, I knew that Latinos would be more closely examined.  And who else, but big businesses would have an interest?  So with social media growing as well as the Latino population, it only made perfect sense that marketers would begin to enter this area.

I’ve had 5 years of experience online interacting and community building before social media became trendy…and from this advantage , I knew that I’d be ahead of any marketer without this type of experience.  Thus I entered the Hispanic marketing world and rebranded my self as such.

One significant contribution to the Latino community was the national community feature for Latinos In Social Media (now called LATISM), building off the idea AnaRC had from her tweet “Where are all the Latinos on Twitter,” and the directory of Latino professionals.  Call it being at the right place at the right time, because if I didn’t see Ana’s tweet, LATISM probably would of not happened.  Thanks to all those involved with LATISM, the very first Latino based social media seminars took place in NY, then FL and DC followed…a fourth and what looks to be the largest yet is taking place this September. (If you can, catch LATISM in action via tonight’s Twitter party.)

My continued purpose in social media is to contribute to Latinos and social media as a whole from this blog to continuing projects that serve the greater community.

Popularity: 50% [?]

Mindset – the perfect elixir for age and classification.  Lili says it perfectly, “…is it really about generation, or is it about lifestyle?  …put the ‘generation’ to the side for a second, (because) it’s a mindset…”

Popularity: 32% [?]

Is anyone surprised?  Are you still one to think social media won’t work?  Well then, read up:

Social media and a national road tour are part of the plan to drum up interest. The campaign will stress the importance and secrecy of the count.

This shows the further use and maturity of social media.

(Not that I thought they would succeed, but this further strengthens my belief that those groups who wanted to ban the census will not win.)

Popularity: 25% [?]

Friday is all about LATISM-DC.  Latinos In Social Media, DC is the latest addition to the LATISM family of state chapters.

This has resulted in the 3rd social media conference presented by LATISM, a national group promoting social media and the Latinos behind it.  From their own state website:

LatISM DC, part of the LatISM Heritage Tour, is a conference that brings together a select group of Latinos in Social Media and business leaders in the region to discuss current topics related to Social Media. This two-day session focuses on Web 2.0, Gov 2.0, leveraging social media for non-profits, businesses and government.

This folks, is a full conference:

On the national LATISM site you will find a dynamic list of speakers speaking at this event (sorry, registration is closed). They will even have YOGA!!! How innovative is that?!?

A special thanks goes out to NCLR for graciously donating the conference space.

And a special thanks to Kety (@KetyE), and her team: Sylvia Aguilera (@httponline), Alma Suarez (@AmericanLatina),  Julie Diaz-Asper (@JulieDiazAsper), Elianne Ramos (@ergeekgoddess), Jennifer Lubrani (@meningioma)…aka, The Five Latinas. Six Latinas.

LATISM has reached a tipping point with DC, as they are at full capacity and have had to add a networking event to fill the demand.  Congratulations Ladies!

Popularity: 19% [?]