Some 12% of females surveyed said that they would be less likely to date someone if they had a big and bulky cell phone

Single mobile females (SMFs) – young single women who have cell phones – assign to their mobile devices an important role in relationships and dating, organizing their lives, and in fashion, according to a recent study commissioned by Samsung Telecommunications America.

“The cell phone is an integral part of the SMF’s life, serving as a pocket-size detective, matchmaker, wing-woman and beyond. It is now officially a girl’s best friend,” said Randy Smith, VP of channel marketing for Samsung.

Among the survey findings:

• More than two-thirds of women (73%) of women have ditched traditional, paper address books for their cell phones to keep track of contacts.
• The average number of cell phone contacts is 63.
• Almost one-third of respondents said they can tell a good amount about a person by the type of cell phone they have (32%).
• Some 12% of females surveyed said that they would be less likely to date someone if they had a big and bulky cell phone.
• Nearly three-quarters of females surveyed look at their cell phone, rather than their watch, to get the time (74%).
• More than one out of three SMFs have had a friend call them to interrupt a date (34%).
• A whopping 70% said they have snooped on their significant other’s cell phone – for example, by looking through text messages or picking up their phone to see who is calling.
• Single mobile females use cell phones to avoid calls: 40% have faked technical difficulties to avoid someone they were not interested in dating.
• Nearly four out of ten (39%) single women have suffered from “text shame:” sending a text message and then waking up the next morning realizing that they said something they shouldn’t have.
• Nearly half of survey respondents prefer to flirt with someone they are interested in via text message when they are away from them (48%).
• More than 10% of females surveyed say the “three day rule” – waiting to call someone until three days after a first date – only applies to calling, and one can send a text message to someone before day three (13%).
• 78% of females surveyed prefer to give their cell phone number to someone they are attracted to.

About the study: The survey, commissioned by Samsung, was conducted by Kelton Research and included more than 500 US unmarried females ages 18 to 35 who have a cell phone.

Per day, the group engages in one-third more word-of-mouth (WOM) conversation than the total public or women in general, the study found:

Per day, the group engages in one-third more word-of-mouth (WOM) conversation than the total public or women in general

Among other findings:

• Fully 60% of conversations among the studied group carry with them a recommendation to buy, try, or consider the brands under discussion.
  • Positive brand sentiment outweighs negative by a 10-to-1 margin.
  • In shopping, retail, and apparel, 69% of the group is likely to purchase based on what they heard.
• The group has higher WOM credibility than the total public and total women – in various capacities (e.g., propensity to pass along info, purchase intent):

The group has higher WOM credibility than the total public and total women

• They are more likely to qualify as WOM influencers (60% more so than the total public, 45% more so than total women).
• Close to 1 in 5 pregnant and new moms were identified as WOM leaders or Conversation Catalysts (based on their recommending behavior and size of social network).

Content, Sources of Online Conversations

Pregnant and new moms are talking about technology, financial services, healthcare, food/dining, media/entertainment, packaged goods, shopping and retail experiences, the study found:

• Half or more of those surveyed said they had least one conversation per day about the above topics.
• Retailer, consumer electronic, and soft drink brands dominated the top 10 most talked about brands:

Retailer, consumer electronic, and soft drink brands dominated the top 10 most talked about brands

Most discussions about brands and products occur in person; discussion content, however, is often provided by various media, especially the internet and television:

Moms have a natural desire to share ideas and information with each other. The rich content and community experience found on the internet plays a key role in driving these conversations

About the study: In Jan. ‘08, Keller Fay interviewed a sample of 1,721 women (18+) who were pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or have one or more children age five or under. The women, recruited through the BabyCenter 21st Century Mom Panel, BabyCenter’s website, and an external panel, completed an online survey about their face-to-face, telephone, or online conversations about brands across 14 categories during the 24 hours that immediately preceded the survey.

Interested in reaching Latina mommies? Contact Target Latino!!

Hispanics accounted for 57.7% of sales growth in the food, beverage and restaurant sector.

In addition to being the largest driver of college enrollment growth, Hispanics have also become the most important U.S. demographic growth driver in the food, beverage and restaurant sectors,according to data from a Hispanic market research study.

The U.S. Hispanic segment made up more than 50% of real U.S. food, beverage and restaurant growth between 2005 and 2008, generating $52 billion of new inflation-adjusted spending. In contrast, non-Hispanics generated $40 billion of new inflation adjusted spending during the same period. This means that between 2005 and 2008, Hispanics accounted for 57.7% of sales growth in the food, beverage and restaurant sector.

The analysis indicates this growth can be attributed primarily to an increase in the number of U.S. Hispanic households, and secondly to an increase in consumer spending among U.S. Hispanics (which should likely continue rising as more Hispanics obtain college degrees and increase their earning potential).

Source: Latinum

Not surprisingly, the research also found that the younger the respondent, the more reliant that person was on online sources.

Key demographic differences:

• Respondents with household incomes of $100K or more receive considerably more news and information from online sources (23.1% vs. 14.6% for the general population).
• College grads report using online sources more frequently (20.0%).
• Adults ages 18-34 report the highest reliance on online sources (22.2%).
• Hispanics are more likely to prefer online sources (21.0%).

“The data showing an increase in online use and drop in daily newspaper consumption echoes what we’re hearing from consumers and media partners,” according to the research company. “Consumers want more of their information online.”

Other survey findings:

• College grads are more likely to trust online news (giving online a 6.3 rating vs. the 5.7 rating by the general population), and are less likely to trust TV news (giving TV a 6.1 rating vs. the 6.5 rating by the general population).
• Respondents with annual household incomes of $100K and above trust online sources considerably more than the general population (giving online a 6.5 rating, compared with the 5.7 rating by the general population).
• Higher-income respondents also view daily newspapers as more credible (6.8 vs. the 6.3 overall rating).

About the survey:  The survey was conducted with 1,000 US adults, ages 18+. It was conducted by phone September 10-13, 2009. ARAnet.

And, LATISM (Latinos in Social Media), a non-profit organization that groups Latinos who actively participate online, has performed an invaluable survey of over 900 Latina bloggers and has shared these incredible insights with all of us.

Thank you, LATISM!!!

Perhaps reflecting the makeup of the larger Latino population, the great majority of participants were born in Mexico and the US

This is an excerpt from the LATISM survey on Latina bloggers (July 2010):

The world has certainly changed a lot since our “abuelitas” (grandmas) used to keep a secret dairy. Today’s Latinas are open-minded, opinionated and love to share their innermost  thoughts online… in two different languages!

At the same time, while they have shed certain traditions, these independent heads of households have managed to tap into the gregarious aspect of our culture: the sense of community,  which earned high marks as a main motivator to start posting.

They have succeeded at planting themselves right at the epicenter of merging worlds: between tradition and modernity, between English and Spanish, between American and Latino cultures.

The intrinsic characteristics of blogging, where the private becomes public and communities rally together around common interests, make it the perfect platform for the Latina Passion.

• The number of blogueras has been climbing steadily for the past 10 years but the numbers really skyrocketed last year: 63% started blogging in 2009 and it’s expected to continue climbing.
• Most feel being a Latina has helped them find sponsorships and readers but in general feel they get less opportunities compared to non-Latinas
  • Young: The largest group is between 30 and 39
  • Mothers: 83% has between 2 and 4 kids
  • Heads of household:  70% is either single, divorced or separated
• Commitment:
  • 75% blog two or more times a week
  • 77% have invested in their own domain
• 98% plus are active in social media
• A surprising 72% blog primarily in English
• Mobile:
  • 81% use their phone to tweet
  • 90% use it for FB
  • 93% use apps

You can access the full report here

Source: LATISM

Accessing of social networking sites or blogs also saw significant growth, increasing 2.6 percentage points to 20.8 percent of mobile subscribers.

Mobile Content Usage

65.2 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in May, up 1.4 percentage points versus the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 31.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.3 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 30.0 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the previous period. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs also saw significant growth, increasing 2.6 percentage points to 20.8 percent of mobile subscribers.

____________________________________________________________________________

Mobile Content Usage

3 Month Avg. Ending May 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2010

Total U.S. Age 13+

____________________________________________________________________________

Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers

Feb-10    May-10    Point Change

Total Mobile Subscribers                            100.0%    100.0%        N/A

Sent text message to another phone           63.8%       65.2%          1.4

Used browser                                                     29.6%       31.9%          2.3

Used downloaded apps                                   27.9%       30.0%         2.1

Played games                                                      21.8%       22.5%        0.7

Accessed social networking site or blog     18.2%       20.8%        2.6

Listened to music on mobile phone             13.1%       14.3%          1.2

____________________________________________________________________________

Source: comscore

• A woman is one-fifth less likely than a man to own a mobile phone in a middle-income or poor country, a gender gap that reduces women’s safety and income possibilities as well as national wealth and companies’ revenues.

• If men and women had similar cellphone ownership rates in these countries, there would be 300 million more cellphones in use, offering greater connectivity and productivity, according to the 2010 study “Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity.”

• The study, by the Cherie Blair Foundation, the GSMADevelopment Fund and Vital Wave Consulting, found that the poorer the region and the less empowered women are, the greater the gender disparity in cellphone ownership. The gap was smallest in Eastern Europe/Central Asia, at 16%; it was greatest in South Asia, at 37%. By comparison, in Western Europe more women than men have cellphones.

• The study cites links between increased cellphone use and national income, job creation and profits.

• For the phone industry, equal cellphone usage by gender in middle-income and poor countries would increase sales by $13 billion. Five years out, the annual gain would be $29 billion. Two-thirds of market growth is expected to be women in the next five years.

• Just like in developed countries, women in less wealthy countries report that a cellphone improves their sense of security. In addition 85% of women in those countries say a cellphone increases their independence.

• But the greatest opportunity is in potential productivity. 55% of female business owners in the countries say a cellphone brought them more income, vs 28% of all women with a phone, and 4 of 10 women with a phone say it increased their professional or economic opportunities.

• Ways in which women raised income through phones include getting pricing information, executing money transfers and making employment contacts.

• To reduce the gap, the report urges companies to market directly to women; position phones as income-producing tools; find ways to reduce costs for women; and foster incentives for developing mobile services that benefit women.

• In her introduction, Cherie Blair writes, “What shines out of this study is that Women and Mobile represent an untapped market and great development potential that we need to embrace.”

Source: Womenomics www.20-first.com

In this post, I would like to discuss how to use online monitoring tools to aid in product development and market research.

There are many steps to developing a successful product. But the first step is always concept creation. Here we are thinking about broad-based ideas. Using social media monitoring at this step can help form a direction and scope for the rest of the development process. For example, if we want to develop a product focused on online video, we might monitor such terms as “video”, “video sharing”, or “video rating”. During this first stage of monitoring, we will want to focus on what aspects of online video people are talking about most.

How To Use Social Media Monitoring Tools To Aid Product Development

Sniffing user needs out of social media

Identifying trends and audiences is extremely important to defining the scope and direction of your product. With our example, we might find that the largest demographic for video consumption are young adults and predominately focus on music and entertainment.

After we have used our monitoring tools to identify trends and audiences, we now begin to monitor scope and direction. Understanding how your target audience is using products is important in your planning process. With our example above, we might monitor conversations to determine where and when video content is being viewed the most. Questions such as “are the users using handheld devices or traditional desktop machines?” can be helpful when determining the scope and direction of your product.

While observing how the market uses similar products, you can begin to make a potential features list. For example, you might observe some users prefer video playlist and some prefer video sharing. Making a features list based on actual user conversations/engagement can be extremely powerful when deciding how to delegate resources during the development process.

Prepare your competitive position

After you’ve completed your features list, research other companies and products that meet the needs of your target audience. Use this list of companies and products to begin brand monitoring to aid in competitive analysis. Here, we will be looking at users reactions and sentiment towards competitors in your marketplace. Pay attention to any gaps between your target’s dialog and what your competitors are offering understanding these gaps can help develop a strong point of difference with your product.

At this point, you should now have a direction, feature list, and definitive point of difference that is all reflective of your marketplace. Now its time to send your ideas off to the engineers! But wait, don’t stop monitoring social media! After you have launched your new product, you are going to want to continue to monitor social media to identify flaws and improve with extended feature sets that are now more apparent after you have launched.

Understanding your marketplace and target audiences are important to product development. Whether it is concept creation or refining your feature list social media monitoring can help with the necessary research in building the perfect product.

Source: www.theseohelpblog.com

Ecuadorians in this statistical profile are people who self-identified as Hispanics of Ecuadorian origin; this means either they themselves are Ecuadorian immigrants or they trace their family ancestry to Ecuador. Ecuadorians are the ninth-largest population of Hispanic origin living in the United States, accounting for 1.3% of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2008.

A total of 591,000 Hispanics of Ecuadorian origin resided in the United States in 2008, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Mexicans constituted 30.7 million, or 65.7%, of the Hispanic population.1

This statistical profile compares the demographic, income and economic characteristics of the Ecuadorian population with the characteristics of all Hispanics and the U.S. population overall. It is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the 2008 American Community Survey. Key facts include:

• Immigration status. Two-thirds of Ecuadorians (66.4%) in the United States are foreign born compared with 38.1% of Hispanics and 12.5% of the U.S. population overall. Two-thirds of immigrants from Ecuador (66.2%) arrived in the U.S. in 1990 or later. Nearly four-in-ten Ecuadorian immigrants (37.2%) are U.S. citizens.

• Language. Less than half of Ecuadorians (49.1%) speak English proficiently.2 Some 50.9% of Ecuadorians ages 5 and older report speaking English less than very well, compared with 37.3% of all Hispanics.

• Age. Ecuadorians are younger than the U.S. population and older than Hispanics overall. The median age of Ecuadorians is 32; the median ages of the U.S. population and all Hispanics are 36 and 27, respectively.

• Marital status. Ecuadorians are more likely than Hispanics overall to be married—50.7% versus 46.5%.

• Fertility. Two-in-ten (20.8%) of Ecuadorian women ages 15 to 44 who gave birth in the 12 months prior to the survey were unmarried. That was less than the rate for all Hispanic women—38.8%—and the rate for U.S. women—34.5%.

• Regional dispersion. Two-thirds of Ecuadorians (68.0%) live in the Northeast, and more than four-in-ten (42.5%) live in New York.

• Educational attainment. Ecuadorians have higher levels of education than the Hispanic population overall. Some 18.2% of Ecuadorians ages 25 and older—compared with 12.9% of all U.S. Hispanics—have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree.

• Income. The median annual personal earnings for Ecuadorians ages 16 and older were $23,423 in 2008; the median earnings for all U.S. Hispanics were $21,488.

• Poverty status. The share of Ecuadorians who live in poverty, 13.5%, is similar to the rate for the general U.S. population (12.7%) and below the 20.7% share among all Hispanics.

• Health Insurance. One-third of Ecuadorians (34.7%) do not have health insurance compared with 31.7% of all Hispanics and 15.4% of the general U.S. population. Additionally, 16.4% of Ecuadorians younger than 18 are uninsured.

• Homeownership. The rate of Ecuadorian homeownership (40.3%) is lower than the rate for all Hispanics (49.1%) and the U.S. population (66.6%) as a whole.

Peruvians in this statistical profile are people who self-identified as Hispanics of Peruvian origin; this means either they themselves are Peruvian immigrants or they trace their family

A total of 519,000 Hispanics of Peruvian origin resided in the United States in 2008, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

ancestry to Peru. Peruvians are the tenth-largest population of Hispanic origin living in the United States, accounting for 1.1% of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2008. Mexicans constituted 30.7 million, or 65.7%, of the Hispanic population.1

This statistical profile compares the demographic, income and economic characteristics of the Peruvian population with the characteristics of all Hispanics and the U.S. population overall. It is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the 2008 American Community Survey. Key facts include:

• Immigration status. Seven-in-ten Peruvians (69.3%) in the United States are foreign born compared with 38.1% of Hispanics and 12.5% of the U.S. population overall. Two-thirds of immigrants from Peru (66.1%) arrived in the U.S. in 1990 or later. Four-in-ten Peruvian immigrants (42.3%) are U.S. citizens.

• Language. A majority of Peruvians (55.1%) speak English proficiently.2 Some 44.9% of Peruvians ages 5 and older report speaking English less than very well, compared with 37.3% of all Hispanics.

• Age. Peruvians are similar in age to the U.S. population and older than Hispanics overall. The median age of Peruvians is 35; the median ages of the U.S. population and all Hispanics are 36 and 27, respectively.

• Marital status. Peruvians are more likely than Hispanics overall to be married—50.7% versus 46.5%.

• Fertility. Two-in-ten Peruvian women (19.6%) ages 15 to 44 who gave birth in the 12 months prior to the survey were unmarried. That was less than the rate for all Hispanic women—38.8%—and the rate for U.S. women—34.5%.

• Regional dispersion. Peruvians are more geographically dispersed than other Hispanic origin groups. Two-in-ten Peruvians (19.8%) live in Florida and one-in-six (16.8%) live in California; some one-in-eight live in New Jersey (12.9%) and New York (12.3%).

• Educational attainment. Peruvians have higher levels of education than the Hispanic population overall. Some 29.8% of Peruvians ages 25 and older—compared with 12.9% of all U.S. Hispanics—have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree.

• Income. The median annual personal earnings for Peruvians ages 16 and older were $24,441 in 2008; the median earnings for all U.S. Hispanics were $21,488.

• Poverty status. The share of Peruvians who live in poverty, 9.5%, is lower than the rate of the general U.S. population (12.7%) and the rate among all Hispanics (20.7%).

• Health Insurance. Three-in-ten Peruvians (30.2%) do not have health insurance compared with 31.7% of all Hispanics and 15.4% of the general U.S. population. Additionally, 20.0% of Peruvians younger than 18 are uninsured.

• Homeownership. The rate of Peruvian homeownership (50.1%) is similar to the rate for all Hispanics (49.1%) but lower than the 66.6% rate for the U.S. population as a whole.