• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, May 19, 2014

Social media apps are favorites with U.S. Hispanics, who are also very likely to recommend them to family, friends, and coworkers, according to a new survey of 1,042 U.S. Hispanics by The Latinum Network. This research confirms other recent studies showing that Hispanics over-index in both social media and mobile device usage.
 
Overall, 58% of U.S. Hispanics surveyed by Latinum said that social media apps are their third most-used type of app, second only to gaming and messaging apps, and 75% of U.S. Hispanics said they are likely to recommend an app to friends and family, with males more likely than females to recommend apps to coworkers.
 
In terms of discovery, 53% of U.S. Hispanics surveyed said they find apps through the app store, while 47% find out about them through word-of-mouth or social media. Acculturated Hispanics were more likely to use the app store to find apps, while unacculturated Hispanics were more likely to rely on personal recommendations.

Facebook is the most popular mobile app, recommended by 44% of non-acculturated Hispanics and 29% of bicultural Hispanics.
 
As noted, these results correspond broadly with previous studies of U.S. Hispanics’ usage social media and mobile devices. According to figures from the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project released in February, 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. 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.
 
Survey data released by Experian Marketing Services in December 2013 showed that 69% of Hispanics surveyed use social media once a day, compared to 62% of non-Hispanics. Hispanics are also 6% more likely to follow companies and brands on social media, and 30% more likely to buy products they see advertised on social-media sites.
 
In November, Valassis released study results showing 69.6% of U.S. Hispanics said they have used coupons found on social-media sites, compared to 53.9% of the population at large, while 61.2% said they have shared coupons via social media, compared to 39.4% of all consumers.