Media speculation about a Net Neutrality plan in the works by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rattled some politicos in Washington. Unfortunately this news will likely send shockwaves throughout the investment community. This rumored net neutrality plan will place greater regulations on wireless broadband. In light of this, we must ask ourselves did Washington learn anything from the midterm election? Were our leaders in Washington asleep as the public cried out for jobs? If we are serious about creating these jobs and allowing the private sector to thrive, it would be wise to put the car in “neutral” on regulation that will ultimately harm our chances to accelerate growth. Read the rest of this entry »
In my opinion, I highly recommend that you get a copy of Joe’s book. It’s one of the first books that offer up to date information on Hispanic online media and current internet and mobile activities. I really enjoyed reading the case studies from professional companies that use online meda for their campaigns and the book’s content makes it very simple to comprehend, excellent for academic study or marketing research. You can chat with Joe on Facebook and Twitter, he’s more than happy to discuss about his professional background or his current work. He’s very cool and very passionate about Hispanic online media content. Please view my video interview above and enjoy the book.
What’s great about online media is that it can be used to strengthen the community, not only on the Internet but also local communities within cities and suburbs. In the case of New York, where small Latino communities thrive, George “The Urban Jibaro” Torres uses his social network to help bring an online presence to both Latino culture and identity. I’ve been following and communicating with George for a long time and I see that he has the passion behind the content that he communicates to his followers, which is Latino cultural heritage.
Pre-screening of Pepsi YO SUMO’s film documentary “Latinos Living the American Dream”
In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was invited to watch the pre-screening of Pepis YO SUMO’s film documentary called Latinos Living the American Dream, a film that portrays the lives and experiences of Latinos living in the United States. The film is about 45 minutes but it shares a mixture of positive and emotional messages that Latinos from all walks of life love living in the United States and work hard for their families and communities. I encourage everyone to watch this film both Latinos and Non-Latinos because it does break through the stereotypes that people have negatively labeled Latinos. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto analyzes how human thought and emotion shape political behavior.
Political candidates in this year’s election campaigns are definitely making an effort in winning the Latino votes and rightly so since Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, with an estimated population of 48.4 million. Even Spanish language networks such as Telemundo and Univision are taking a leading role in covering the political campaigns and the candidates.
Even though Latinos make up an estimated 10% of the US electorate and don’t turn out as much as other voters, their participation can decide the political winner races in states with high Latino demographics such as Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada and California, where many of the Latino voters are located.
In one of my earlier posts, I blogged how organizations are using social media and mobile technology to encourage young Latinos to fill out the 2010 Census.
However, for this blog post the question is how are Latinos interacting with current media technology, especially online media, to help influence their voting decisions? I had a great opportunity to interview Dr. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Sotoabout this particular topic and I found our discussion into political marketing very insightful. Dr. DeFrancesco Soto is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and African American Studies at Northwestern University and a Faculty Fellow at Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research. She also contributes her time and expertise as a political analyst for CNN en Español
I was planning to post the question and answer session on this blog post but Lance Rios of Being Latino reached out to me for a collaboration so I thought it was a great idea because it will reach a greater audience. To read the complete post, please go to Being Latino’s Blog. Also, check out a video interview of Dr. DeFrancesco Soto by NextGenWeb on making web content relevant to Latinos below.
Pepsi YO SUMO illustrates the lives and experiences of Latinos
Early in March Pepsi launched YO SUMO (I Add Up/I Count), an initiative that encourages US Latinos to fill out the 2010 Census as well as celebrating the lives of individuals within the Hispanic community. They launched an interactive website that encourages Latinos to share their own stories of what is like to be a Latino, especially here in the United States where the Latino population is rapidly growing. They have an opportunity to post their own stories on Latino art, culture, tradition, values and so on.
Professional bloggers can offer you these elements.
I first started getting into Hispanic market research when I was taking Latin American classes focusing on Latinos and popular culture about two years ago at one of my graduate classes. In fact, my final project for the class was the idea of Latinos using multimedia to express their Latino culture. From there I really got into studying Hispanic culture and how it is being communicated through various media platforms. Still, I felt that there is more content out there that I wasn’t aware of outside of academia and sure enough I found content relevant to my studies from more experienced professionals online and through their own blogs. I began curating and disseminating information as well as collaborating with Hispanic professionals, exchanging ideas and discussing issues revolving around our research into Hispanic marketing through Twitter and Facebook.
Just recently, I was very honored to be listed as one of the 10 Latino Bloggers You Should Follow on Twitter on Andy Checo’s blog. Andy Checo is an online colleague with whom we exchange ideas with others through Twitter, particularly within the #latism Twitter group. He’s also a public relations professional specializing in the US Hispanic market. I saw the other top nine that he listed and I follow them as well for Hispanic marketing content. Andy also listed is own Top 10 Latina Bloggers You Should Follow on Twitter post as well. Of course, there are many others out there and if you have some that you follow please post it here or on Andy’s blog. Gathering Hispanic marketing intelligence is a challenge but through online collaboration and discussions with others within the field, you get the information you need for your own Hispanic marketing campaigns while at the same time build a social intelligence network for you to always go to bounce off your ideas or if you run into a problem you can’t solve on your own.
In my previous posts, I mentioned how Latina mommy bloggers or “mami blogueras” are becoming a very powerful online community because of their ability to review products, communicate with one another and offer advice through their own experiences of being a parent. General Mills created a website earlier this year called Que Rica Vida (What a Good Life). Created for Latina mothers, you can find recipes, tips, coupons and information about healthy foods for your family and its all in Spanish while at the same time help promote General Mills products. So far, it’s been getting positive reviews, especially from Latina mommy bloggers because they strategically targeted this community to help build their online presence, a great idea on their part.
The Samsung Epic 4G is an example of how current smartphones allow bloggers to post content at any time with an improved network speed and interface.
Normally when I do my blogposts I wait till I go home and start working on it on my desktop but if I’m out at a particular event with important topics that are shared like a meet up I tend to bring my laptop with me. My laptop is great but at times I find it a bit cumbersome to use in order to collect content such as pictures and videos as well as putting together blog drafts for later posting and communicating with fellow members of LATISM (Latinos in Social Media) about topics focusing on Latinos and online media technology through Twitter. Mobile technology has come a long ways in providing multifunctionality for games, entertainment, business and communication which allows you to leave your laptop at home. Micro-blogs such as Tumblr and Posterous are the perfect platforms for today’s smartphones because it allows you to do quick postings of text, pictures, music, and videos and share it with your friends and fans.
Carmen Rodriguez (right) and her sister, Gina Madera (left) displaying their cupcakes at the "CartArt NYC" event.
With all my research and studies into Hispanic marketing, I felt the need to expand and create another interest which is to post blogs about Hispanic businesses. I thought it would be a good idea to show how Hispanic business owners manage to build their businesses from the ground up and illustrate any form of Hispanic marketing to help strengthen their brand and presence. Not only would these make great case studies but also it would help others who have the drive to build their own businesses and use these posts as a guide for their own ideas.
This is my first ever post about Hispanic businesses and it is with an interview with Carmen Rodriguez, who started her own cupcake bakery located in Brooklyn, New York called Brooklyn Cupcake. Below are the following questions that I asked Carmen about her small business and what she did to put it all together.
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