This monthly digest is written primarily for the staff of UC Cooperative Extension. It is produced by the staff of ANR's News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS) based on news reported by mainstream news media and reputable research institutions. Inclusion in the digest does not imply endorsement, nor does SBMS assume responsibility for the veracity of the information. We invite our readers to refer to the source to read more of each particular brief; we'll try to always include a link.

Last year, Hispanics’ use of the Internet grew 6.5 times more than that of the general market according to Terra Networks report of data collected by Internet information provider comScore Media Metrix. Between December 2005 and December 2006, the general market increased 2 percent, while the Hispanic market increased 13 percent. Time spent online during December 2006 was 81.7 minutes for the general market and 88.1 minutes daily for Hispanics. Despite expectations that Spanish language usage would decrease over time, language preference “has hardly changed over the past year.” Hispanic users continue to be younger than the general market, but the size of the 2- to 17-year-old segment decreased by 4.4 percent. Terra Networks expects the growth of Hispanic online use in the U.S. to be greater this year than it was in 2006.

Source: “Hispanic User Growth Dramatically Outpaces General Market,” MediaBuyerPlanner.com, January 31, 2007, http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2007/01/31/hispanic-user-growth-dramatically-outpaces-general-market/