• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, February 21, 2014

Hispanics are more likely to use social media than the rest of the U.S. population.
 
Overall 80% of U.S. Hispanic adults use social media, compared to 72% for the country overall, including 70% for non-Hispanic whites and 75% for African Americans, according to figures from the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project. Similarly, 68% of U.S. Hispanic adults said they used Facebook, Twitter or similar platforms, compared to 58% for the U.S. population over all.
 
Turning to specific platforms, 28% of U.S. Hispanics said they use Twitter, compared to 18% of the U.S. population at large, including 14% of non-Hispanic whites and 27% for African Americans. Of note for marketers: U.S. Hispanics are also more likely to follow a brand on social media.
 
Social media isn’t the only place where Hispanics lead the rest of the population in adoption rates. Another Pew survey published in May 2013 found that 86% of U.S. Hispanics own a cell phone, compared to 84% of the U.S. white population, while 76% of U.S. Hispanics said they use a mobile device to go online, compared to 60% of U.S. whites.
 
Hispanics are also more likely to use digital coupons than the U.S. population in general. Some 84.2% of U.S. Hispanic consumers said they have searched for an online coupon based on a recommendation, compared to 70.6% of all U.S. consumers, according to a national consumer panel survey by Valassis.

Turning to social media, 69.6% of U.S. Hispanics surveyed said they have used coupons found on social-media sites, compared to 53.9% of the population at large. Plus, 61.2% said they have shared coupons via social media, compared to 39.4% of all consumers.
 
In December 2013, a study by Experian Marketing Services’s Hitwise service found that Hispanics are more likely to shop online in general. Overall, Hispanics’ share of visits to the top 500 retail Web sites tracked by Experian’s Hitwise measurement service was 21% higher than the online population in general. Hispanics also spend more time browsing retail Web sites than non-Hispanic smartphone owners.
 
In terms of specific behaviors, adult Hispanic smartphone owners are twice as likely as non-Hispanics to say they are interested in receiving ads on their phone, 58% are more likely to purchase products they see advertised on their phone, and 13% are more likely to say they use their phone while shopping to find local deals.