Latino Rebranded: Latinos and Social Media

In 2010 into 2011, we’ll see more Hispanic based media seminars and conferences nationwide.  It’s a personal pleasure to be a part of these exciting times.

What’s interesting in this short round up are the new players making their entrance as a result of a changing industry.  Also of note is the inclusion of new media within the agendas of established organizations.

This list is far from complete, as there are smaller seminars going on, as well as some larger that I’ve not added – it’s a start.  If you have any suggestions please feel free to add them to the comment’s section and we can create an ongoing list.

• One exciting first, is Manny’s HispanicPR Conference that includes social media.  It’s a 3 day event in Texas, May 10-12. I think we’ll see this as an annual event for years to come.

• Another ‘first’, is the Latino2 event in LA powered by Latinos In Social Media (LATISM) on April 30-May 2. This event will solidify the LATISM footprint in marketing and social media on the West Coast.To keep abreast of what is going on in LA you can follow these Tweeps and their daily discourse:  @giorodriguez @antonio @davidvallejo @laurag

• LatinVision in NY has it’s annual Convergence conference Oct 4, that will discuss the future of Hispanic media.  This even bring in the major networks and agencies in NYC and beyond.

• In Hispanic print and digital media is Portada’s event Sept. 23.
  

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Subtitle: Giving Back

In an error of Change, where people are once again thinking globally, here’s your chance to give back, now and always – once you start to care, you will never stop caring.

I truly believe that the world will change with the power of non-profit organizations, and humanitarianism.

So, If you’re a blogger, Latino/a (Hispanic/Xicano/Cuban/Boriqua/Taino…human and care about children), then post this widget (hit copy), on your blog or social media site (customizable here).

If you don’t do social media, then just give.

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I’ve been saying that v-v-video is the new communication platform. Especially for us men, since we are visually inclined creatures.

My pal Julito outdone himself this time:

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Another huge project I am working on:

Latinos in Social Media and Being Latino presents:

Our 1ST ANNUAL THREE-KINGS DAY ONLINE TOY DRIVE & FUNDRAISER to benefit The Children’s Aid Society’s Latino Outreach Initiative
[http://www.childrensaidsociety.org] and the United Nations Children’s
Fund [UNICEF] [UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/]

January 6th, the traditional day for gift-giving in Latin American tradition, to bring joy to disadvantaged Latino children in the US and Latin America.

The Toy Drive & Fundraiser will have two levels:

1st Level: Thanks to generous donations from our sponsors Time To Play,
Ingenio and Discovery Toys we will be donating new unwrapped bilingual Educational toys to the Latino Outreach Center of the Children’s Aid Society, located in Washington Heights, New York City. The toys will be distributed to poor Latino children in the area.

2nd Level: We will be collecting donations from our growing online
networks. This monetary donation will benefit UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and be distributed through UNICEF to centers aiding disadvantaged children in Latin America.

LAUNCH DETAILS:
• WHAT: Live Twitter Party
• WHEN: December 30th 2009, 8pm – 10pm EST
• WHERE: Twitter (use hashtag #latismtoydrive or enter latismtoydrive in
TweetChat.com – you must have a Twitter account).

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
• Donate ONLINE through our Chipin/PayPal account (http://bit.ly/7B8yL0).
Donations accepted until January 3rd, 2010. Donations accepted until January 3rd, 2010.

• Make a toy donation by sending new, unwrapped toys to: The Children’s
Aid Society -105 East 22nd St. Please use codename: LATISMTOYDRIVE. Toy donations will be accepted until January 4th, 2010.

• Follow and Retweet our Toy Drive message using #latismtoydrive on Twitter

• Write about it on your blog

• Post up toydrive widgets on your blog (http://bit.ly/5urQXF) and social networks.

All Toy Drive, Donations totals and ceremony pictures will be posted on
our Latism.org and Being Latinos website on January 6, 2010.

We thanks our sponsors Time To Play, Ingenio and Discovery Toys for
their generous toy donations, and our social media community for their
support!!

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My good pal Julito (@julito77) took a video of the panelists that participated at LISTA event last week.

Take note of the #vivaviernes and #latism tags.

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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!

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Subtitle: Latinos Using Status Updates

A report came in from the internet division of Pew Research Center, that 18% of status update users are Latino.

This is a huge number!

If we may be so bold, and apply the above 18% of Latinos who partake in status updates and apply them to the 22% of total Latino internet users we get 81% of Latinos online using social media in the form of status updates.

What are status updates (aka, microblogging)? “Microblogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user.”

Mobile technology is one of the driving factors for microblogging’s growth.  This make sense.  It would be much harder to update a blog than a microblog from a cell phone.

It should also be noted, that more than any other group, Latinos use mobile phones to stay connected, download music, play games and surf the web.

Upcoming and recent enhancements Facebook made to their status update feature is a sure sign that microblogging is here to stay for a while.

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Latinos Online

It’s funny how seemingly, slight differences between search terms can result in a world of difference.

I’ve been searching for information about Latinos in social media, so obviously I used that term – ‘Latinos in social media’. That criteria mostly results in LATISM activities (which, in of itself is a good thing). So, then I used ‘Hispanics in social media,’ which of course brings up some different results. However, I’ve looked through most of it already.

Desperate for some new perspectives, I accidently came across ‘Latinos Online,’ while searching through a show that I was on today. Bingo! New leads.

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Latinos In Social Media

If you missed it, you missed a unique event. Thursday night, my partners and I kicked off the first Latinos In Social Media Twitter Party. We gave away about $500 in prizes. It was a nice way to introduce ourselves and promote out event – The Latinos In Social Media Heritage Tour.

Most of us used TweetChat (using the hashtag #latism) to follow the discussions. If you want to read the dialogue, go to hashtags.org.

Let me tell you, Latinos do not know how to act – and I mean this in a good way.  It was apparent to the organizers that most people were more interested in networking and chatting than the actual prizes. This is very different behavior than in regular Twitter Parties.

Some of the discussions went like this: Sorry if I can’t reply to everyone. This is getting like a typical Loud Latino Party. They’ll call the cops on us! LOL #latism @anarc and, RT @auntchrisbronx @ChicMom I want me some chicharron!!! #latism // cuchifrito time! Others were true networking attempts
@lisagarciaruiz It’s only 7:30 here in CA I’m just getting started! Anyone else from Southern Cal here??? and, @jbrewz @Jaydieli unofficial #latism party DJ here…by request from jaydieli http://song.ly/txxk — Any ruby on rails programmers in the house?

Love my Latinos!  The party went way past the allotted 1 hour, people would not let go.  I myself could not hang past some night owls.  It was great; everyone agreed that it was fun and empowering.  Hope I see everyone there again and even more Tweeples!

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