Digital Latinos Defined: The Hispanic Persona Project

Latinos currently fall into different levels of technology adaption, but increasingly Latinos will be adopting technology and leading the way as consumers in this space, according to a presentation from José Villa, president of Sensis who presented The Hispanic Persona Project at South By Southwest on Sunday. This project Villa said, is to help understand that Latinos are not “consumers,” but rather, users of technology, and they vary in this capacity.

Villa explained that “Hispanic marketing is dying” since the market is growing and changing so much, and used the fact that 63% of Latinos are U.S.-born as an example of this trend. Latinos are no longer defined by languages they speak, thus, it’s incumbent upon people trying to reach this audience to cease thinking of them in these terms. “Everybody understands that you have to figure out this market if you’re going to be relevant,” he said.

The majority of the Latino population is under 30, an in order to better understand these 50 million-plus folks, Villa created four prototypes, or “personas,” based on ethnographic research. The focus groups for this research reflected the U.S. Latino population, by ethnic origin, age and acculturation levels (as defined by integration into American society, not just language).

The four personas defined by Villa are: Techfluential, Social Techie, Nostalgic Newbie and Utilitarian Explorer.

Techfluentials are what Villa termed the “classic early adopter,” who does everything online, uses mobile heavily and is not easily reached by Spanish language media. Social Techies, on the other hand, use technology primarily for social purposes; they are the first to adopt social platforms and use these heavily, but care not for how the technology works, investing in online shopping for example.

Nostalgic Newbies use the web to stay in touch with family and friends in their home countries, have a low acculturation level, are entry level users of online tools and new to social media. They use the web to help them adapt to life in this country, and are best reached by Spanish language portals. Finally, the Utilitarian Explorer has a mid-level of acculturation, a low level of tech adoption, defined as a “passive listener,” and uses the Internet primarily for entertainment.

Villa said these personas may be recreated or repurposed to different ends, but are help to think about the “Hispanic market” in a more useful and tangible way.

[Image By Analyn]

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