Hispanic more digital-savvy than Non-Hispanics

New analysis from the Hispanic InsightCenter reaffirms other studies showing that Hispanics are outpacing Non-Hispanics in the areas of mobile and social media. The new report further reports that the are using social media and mobile technology to give and seek advice about products and services.

According to an article in MediaPost, Hispanic consumers tend to be early adopters and are more likely to own smartphones and tablets. iPad ownership specifically is up among Hispanics from 4.2% in June 2010 to 21.3% in 2012. (14.6% of Non-Hispanics report having an iPad in 2012.)



Viewing on Mobile Devices
	% of Users
Mobile Used to View	Hispanics	Non-Hispanics
Email	48.1%	29.2%
News	26.6	17.5
Sports	15.2	10.2
Video/TV	15.5	9.6
Source: BIGinsight, August 2012

In addition Hispanics’ regular usage of social media also largely outpaces Non-Hispanics counterparts. Usage among Hispanics indexes higher across all sites tracked in the InsightCenter.

Regular Use of Social Media/Online Communities – Index (Hispanics 18+ vs. Non-Hispanics 18+)
Media	Index vs. Non-Hispanics
Facebook	109
Foursquare	166
Google+	133
Hulu	144
LinkedIn	127
MySpace	155
Pinterest	109
Twitter	141
YouTube	133
Source: BIGinsight, August 2012

Hispanics now largest minority group among U.S. 4-year university students

Hispanics are now the largest minority group among the nation’s four-year college and university students. And for the first time, Hispanics made up one-quarter (25.2%) of 18- to 24-year-old students enrolled in two-year colleges, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

In public schools, Hispanics also reached new milestones. For the first time, one-in-four (24.7%) public elementary school students were Hispanic, following similar milestones reached recently by Hispanics among public kindergarten students (in 2007) and public nursery school students (in 2006).

Among all pre-K through 12^th grade public school students, a record 23.9% were Hispanic in 2011.

Population growth alone does not explain all the enrollment gains as high school completion rate among Hispanics is also at a new high. According to the Pew Hispanic analysis, 76.3% of all Hispanics ages 18 to 24 had a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) degree in 2011, up from 72.8% in 2010. And among these high school graduates, a record share—nearly half (45.6%)—is enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges.

Census releases 2012 Hispanic Heritage Month "Facts for Features"

The U.S. Census released its annual Facts for Features on Hispanics for Hispanic Heritage Month.  Read it here.  Some of the highlights:

52.0 million

The Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2011, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority. Hispanics constituted 16.7 percent of the nation's total population. In addition, there are 3.7 million residents of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.
Source: 2011 Population

1.3 million

Number of Hispanics added to the nation's population between July 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011. This number is more than half of the approximately 2.3 million added to the nation's population during this period.
Source: 2011 Population Estimates
National Characteristics: Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic origin

132.8 million

The projected Hispanic population of the United States on July 1, 2050. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 30 percent of the nation's population by that date.
Source: Population Projections

37.0 million

The number of U.S. residents 5 and older who spoke Spanish at home in 2010. Those who hablan español constituted 12.8 percent of U.S. residents 5 and older. More than half of these Spanish speakers spoke English “very well.”
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey: Table B16001

17.3 million

The number of U.S. residents 5 and older who spoke Spanish at home in 1990.
Source: Language Use in the United States: 2007