The 2008 Google Zeitgeist is out and seems to backup some of what we’ve been seeing at The Mambo – Facebook is gaining popularity among Spanish dominant users.
On February 7, 2008 Facebook launched its Spanish version. Since then, we’ve been noticing a lift in Hispanics on our own pages and with our own friends both from the U.S. and from other Latin American countries.
According to the Zeitgeist, Facebook is highly ranked as one of the fastest rising sites in all Latin countries that made the list. “Fastest rising” means that Google looked at the most popular searches conducted for 11 months of 2008 (compiled by early December) and then ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2007.
Here are some of the more interesting results:
- Argentina Fastest Rising: Facebook #2, YouTube #9
- Chile Fastest Rising: Facebook #1, YouTube #5
- Chile Most Popular: Facebook #5, YouTube #4
- Colombia Fastest Rising: Facebook #1, YouTube #4. Hi5, another popular social media site among Spanish speakers is also gaining popularity and comes in at #2
- Colombia Most Popular: Facebook #5, YouTube #4, Hi5 #8
These rankings, combined with the fact that “Hispanic-fluentials” communicate in person, on the phone, or online with more family members, friends and coworkers each day than the general population – 58 people vs. 45. Among female Hispanic-fluentials, the number jumps to 68.*
I predict that these factors will converge and over the next year and we will see this rising popularity of these sites in Latin countries directly translate into larger numbers of U.S. based Hispanics logging onto Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends – both in the U.S. and in their home countries.
Source: MarketingCharts
