TopNews Hispanic Update – 3.7.2013 — A shift away Chicano? Silicon Valley’s Immigration Reform

Top news of the day for all those interested in Hispanics and politics:

Miami Herald: Hispanic Leadership Network To Meet In Coral Gables

Building upon a pro-immigration reform advertising campaign launched last Sunday, the Hispanic Leadership Network (HLN) today announced its third annual Miami Conference to be held April 18-19 at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami, Florida. Under the theme “Family Reunión,” the conference will be chaired by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez.

NYT: Democrat Latinos Gain Political Muscle, and Fund Raiser

The New York Times takes a look at the Futuro Fund, a fundraising arm of Obama campaign that raised $32 million from fellow Latinos soliciting donations and engagement in the President’s re-election. The Futuro Fund was founded by “ a trio of Obama donors: Mr. [Henry R.] Muñoz, as controversial in San Antonio as he is prominent; Andrés W. López, a Puerto Rican lawyer with two Harvard degrees; and Eva Longoria, the actress of “Desperate Housewives” fame.

Politico: W.H. Seeks Tech’s Help on immigration

In Silicon Valley the big concern on immigration law is focused on high-skilled foreign nationals whose advanced degrees and unique technology skills are highly sought after, as well as making it easier to allow foreign entrepreneurs starting companies in the U.S. to live here. The challenge for those pro-immigration reform activists pushing for comprehensive reform is to get the tech world on the bandwagon. There is now a strategy to change that. Read more at Politico.

KPBS: Declining Interest in “Chicano Studies” Reflect A Latino Identity Shift

Hispanic are becoming part of the mainstream and see themselves as “American” and this reality is being seen on college campuses who are seeing a decline in “Chicano Studies” enrollees, even with record number of Hispanic college students. KPBS Reports:

He said understanding the community’s demographic evolution is key. The Latinos on university campuses today are the children of the large wave of immigrants who came to the U.S. in the 1980s and 90s, well after the Chicano movement’s heyday.

“It means that many of these young people don’t know what the term Chicano means in the U.S. context,” Mariscal said. “So it’s really the demographic change, and the culture that those new young people bring, that is slowly moving off center stage the term Chicano, and therefore Chicano Studies.”

Unlike the Chicano generation, which saw itself outside the mainstream and was clearly a minority, today’s young Mexican-Americans increasingly are the mainstream. Many are voting, participating in the political system from within. The four-decade-old Chicano movement is increasingly a vague memory, the term imbued with nebulous meaning.

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INFOGRAPHIC: Blacks and Hispanics Are More Likely to Use Twitter

AdWeek illustrated some great data recently published by Pew Research Center, the first of its kind study that analyzes social media use by various demographics.  A strong majority of internet users, 67 percent, are active on social media platforms like Facebook, Instragram and twitter. Yet, who and how social media is used varies greatly from groups to group. Twitter is popular with internet users 18-29 and Hispanics and blacks. Instagram is particularly appealing to Hispanics, blacks and women.. Though I published the results of the survey a few weeks ago, this infographic was too good, that I had to share.

 

 

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STUDY: Hispanics, Blacks Use Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest at Higher Rate

A new study from Pew Research looks at who uses social media and found the minorities have a higher use of social networking platforms compared to their white counterparts. This latest study on the state of social media is the first reportable data of Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr allowing comparison among demographics – white, African-Americans and Hispanics. Among the most popular social sites Hispanics and Blacks over-indexed as social network users.

The breakdown for:

Twitter:

16% of all Internet users use Twitter

Gender: Men – 17% Women – 15%

Race/Ethnicity: White – 14% Black – 26% Hispanic – 19%

Pinterest:

15% of all internet users use Pinterest

Gender: Men – 5% Women – 25%

Race/Ethnicity: White – 18% Black – 8% Hispanic – 10%

Instagram:

13% of all internet users use Instagram

Gender: Men – 10% Women – 16%

Race/Ethnicity: White – 11% Black – 23% Hispanic – 18%

Tumblr:

6% of all internet users use Tumblr

Gender: Men – 6% Women – 6%

Race/Ethnicity: White – 6% Black – 5% Hispanic – 8%

Read the full report at Pew Research.

While Facebook is the most used social media website (67% of internet users), the report did not release race/ethnicity specific data. A 2009 study found that white and Asian-Americans over indexed on Facebook. The company is making changes to attract a more diverse user base.

In 2011 Pew Hispanic released a study on Hispanic use of the internet – “Latinos and Digital Technology”. Other reports define Hispanics as early adopters of social media and outpace other demographic groups in the United States in the use of social networking sites. Check out this blog post from 2011 for more.

 

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New Initiative Gives Low-Income Families Low-Cost Internet, Computers

A new initiative between the FCC and the private sector will help reduce the digital divide in America at “zero cost to taxpayers”. The FCC and Connect to Compete, a national private and nonprofit sector partnership, will provide low-cost computers and high-speed broadband Internet service in the homes of low-income students and families.

According to the Pew Research Center, one-third of all Americans — 100 million people – have not adopted broadband high-speed Internet at home, creating a “digital divide,” especially in rural communities as well as among low-income blacks and Hispanics.

This morning POLITICO’s Playbook reported :

NETWORK NEWS ALERT: FCC today to announce $9.95/month broadband Internet to the homes of all school-lunch-eligible families, plus $150 refurbished computers (very powerful, shipped to the home, with Microsoft Office, Windows 7, tech support and warranty.

–”FCC & ‘CONNECT TO COMPETE’ TACKLE BARRIERS TO BROADBAND ADOPTION : NEW LOW-COST BROADBAND AND COMPUTER OFFERINGS FOR ELIGIBLE SCHOOL LUNCH CHILDREN & THEIR FAMILIES — $4 BILLION, UNPRECEDENTED IN-KIND OFFER FOR UP TO 25 MILLION AMERICANS — BUILDS ON FCC’S DIGITAL LITERACY ANNOUNCEMENT — BIGGEST EFFORT EVER TO HELP CLOSE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: In May 2011, Chairman Genachowski challenged the broadband ecosystem to help close the adoption gap. Today, at a public school in Washington, D.C., Chairman Genachowski applauded executives and nonprofit leaders from leading Internet service providers, technology companies and nonprofits for their unprecedented multi-billion dollar in-kind commitments to empower millions of families with broadband Internet, PCs, and digital literacy training, with zero cost to taxpayers.”

• WATCH: Announcement from Connect to Compete 

While Hispanics are early adopters of technology and have a high use of social media, they are more likely to get access to the Web from a cellphone and not from a home computer with Internet-connection, an indicator that they are using the cheaper mobile devices to overcome the digital divide.

Only 45% of Latinos have broadband internet access in their home compared

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Engaging Latinos: Effective Advocacy Techniques

A growing number of Hispanics are becoming politically involved, on both sides of the aisle. In 2008, 40% of new registered voters were Latinos. Many more will join the political fold and becoming a larger voice in the upcoming Presidential election. NALEO expects the Hispanic vote will increase by 26% in 2012, casting a record-breaking 12.2 million votes.

The Hispanic Leadership Network (HLN) hopes to engage these politically minded Latinos on center-right issues and attract them to the Republican Party. The group, a spinoff of the conservative American Action Network, recently had a conference in New Mexico as part of a national effort to directly connect with grassroots Latino conservatives.

I had the pleasure of speaking at the HLN New Mexico conference (#HLNMN on twitter) on a panel titled “Effective Advocacy: Your Voice is Your Power.”  Focusing on proven techniques used by the panelist, we discussed how the attendees could use these effective advocacy techniques in their own communities.  Watch the video to see the full panel:

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In Honor of Steve Jobs

No matter what corner of the world you live in, Steve Jobs changed your life. He challenged the world to think different, and they did. He reinvented how people used technology. He reinvented how people see themselves… Steve Jobs is an example that one individual can change the world. Yesterday, Jobs’ life was cut short when he lost his battle with cancer.

Lives obstacles served as opportunities in Steve Jobs’ life. His biological parents, two unwed students (his father a Syrian immigrant), gave him up for adoption. As an infant, he was adopted by a loving working class family. Always an unruly child, he dropped out of college. At age 20, working out of a garage, he created Apple. During his successful career, he had multiple failures and was very publicly fired from the company he created. He was re-hired and he re-invented himself, his company and the world. He transformed how we work, how we communicate, how we share music, how we see movies, and how we connect as people…

All over the globe people are mourning his death and honoring his life. Many are calling him the greatest inventor since Thomas Edison. Admires have shared Jobs inspiring words. He wanted to teach people, that they too could make a difference, but adding “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…”

This is the text and video of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005. Read the full text here: Stanford 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that far more interesting.

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Understanding Latino Use of Communication Technology

We Hispanics are a complicated people. It’s not easy to categorize a group of humans from so many countries, cultures, social and economic levels. Yet, there are many common demonstrators to help better understand U.S. Latino trends.

Here is a great piece from MediaPost’s”Engage:Hispanics” blog called “Defying Easy Categorization: Latinos And Communication Technology.’

It highlights three recent reports providing different data on the use of communication technology by Latinos.

• “Latinos and Digital Technology” by the Pew Hispanic Center
• “35% of American adults own a smartphone” by Pew Internet
• “Mobile Snapshot: Smartphones Now 28% of U.S. Cellphone Market” by the Nielsen Company

The author, Andrew Speyer, warns readers that the challenge is “to avoid oversimplifying and to think flexibly and holistically about how Latinos use communication technology today.“

As communicators try to better connect with the diverse Latino community, it’s vital to understand the complexity of Hispanics and how various generations of Latinos consume data and messages.

Some additional data to think about:

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Latinos Early Adopters to Social Media

Latinos are early adopters to social media and are using the technology in fascinating ways. During my cross-country road trip with my dad last month I blogged about how my cousins living on the border town of Reynosa, MX / Hidalgo, TX, use Facebook and Twitter to avoid shootings and stay safe in the midst of a drug war.

I recently saw this great piece by Democratic Strategist Maria Cardona, in http://blog.latinovations.com/ on how Latinos are using various social media platforms to connect. This article originally appeared in LATINO Magazine

“Latinos and Social Media”

It’s hard not to speak of Latinos and social media in the same sentence these days. Perhaps the biggest story to come out of 2011 will be that the U.S. Latino population surpassed 50 million, but close behind that is the story of how social media is helping turn that raw number into empowerment for Latinos.

Recent studies show that Latinos outpace other demographic groups in the United States in the use of social networking sites, especially via their mobile devices and they’re not slowing down, for a number of reasons. In 2010, 87 % of English speaking Hispanics owned a cell phone compared to 80 percent of whites, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The same study found that 18% percent of Hispanics online use Twitter compared to just 5% of whites—that might explain why I see a spike in Twitter followers every time I tweet in Spanish. And a Nielsen study also found that 62% of Hispanics online engage in social networking activities versus 38% of whites.

Why are Latinos such social mediaites? Because the power of social media is profound. Latinos are increasingly using social media because it has many functions and they are taking advantage of them more than ever to advance their position in American society. Social media is crucial for Latinos’ growth and prosperity in this country in all aspects, from staying connected with family and friends, to searching for jobs and growing their businesses, and for entertainment and civic engagement…

Read the full piece at http://www.latinomagazine.com/summer11/opinion/ultimo.htm

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Young Latinos By The Numbers – Language and Technology

Understanding the Latino community can be as complex as trying to learn Spanish in one day. Thanks to fellow Latina blogger Michelle Ruiz and Telemundo, here is some interesting data on young Latinos to help comprehend the much sought after demographic.

Ruiz attended, “NBC Unidos,” where  Millie Carrasquillo, Senior Vice President of Telemundo Media Research shared data from their study “GenYLA: Generation Young Latino Americans.” The “GenYLA” study  was conducted by the Telemundo Communications Group on the current state of Young Latino Americans (YLAS), ages 18-34.

The study provides some great data on how young Latinos are mobile, technologically savvy and über connected. Some data directly from the study, Young Latino Americans (YLAS), ages 18-34:

“YLAS are the always-connected generation.

YLAS are multi-taskers. YLAS are always consuming high levels of anything technological: 94% have access to the Internet at home; 84% Have high-speed internet; and 87% stream video content, with another 73% that listen to music on the internet. Laptop ownership has taken precedence over desktop, with 73% that own a PC or a Mac.

With a huge strength in mobile usage, a high percent (87%) of YLAS cannot live without it. YLAS are great multi-taskers as many of the activities they focus on are also centered among an online environment. While a majority they told us they eat while watching television (80%), they also text (61%), talk on the phone (60%) and surf the web (50%).”

Below I posted some great notes taken by Ruiz. Statistics on Latinos pulled from Ruiz’s full post: What You Need to Know About Latinos Aged 18-25 and Why It’s Critical to Your Business“

• When describing themselves as Latinos, they use country of origin (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc)
• Describe themselves in this order: Country of origin, American, then Latino
• 62% of Hispanics are born in the U.S.
• Demonstrate fluidity in language and slide back and forth between Spanish, English and Spanglish – primarily speak Spanish at home and with family, and English at work, school and with friends.
• Live bilingual, bicultural lifestyle

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Social Media Key To Spreading News About Bin Laden’s Death

For many the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden came through social media and text messages through their mobile devices. People then turned on their televisions, or logged on to a news media site for more detailed information. This latest event solidified that American have changed how they get their news, and twitter is key.

CNN reported “Bin Laden’s death sets Twitter record” stating that “During President Barack Obama’s address, Twitter users posted messages at an average rate of 3,440 tweets per second.” According to Twitter, at the peak of the online conversation users posted 5,106 tweets per second.

Wall Street Journal highlighted some of the internet conversation – “Reaction To Bin Laden Death Rolls Across the Web.” The messages posted via Twitter, Facebook and various social media outlets were celebratory in nature as Internet users welcomed the news of the death of the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks and al Qaeda.

Social media allows ordinary individuals to become citizen journalists, reporting on events as they happen, many times ahead of the traditional news outlets. As one of the first groups of people at Ground Zero I started sharing the events via social media.

The Wall Street Journal mentioned my foursquare check-in and tweet from Ground Zero as well as the internet use of  hundreds of others occurring that night:

“Using the location-based social network Foursquare, people checked in at Ground Zero in Manhattan and posted photos of the celebration taking place early Monday morning. “At #groundzero large crowd singing “God bless America” and chatting USA. Candles being lit,” wrote one Foursquare user, Republican consultant Bettina Inclan.

At the New York site, where the World Trade Center stood before the attacks, two people standing above the crowd held a large American flag as onlookers snapped photos and uploaded them to Twitter.”

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