10 More Must Follow Prolific Latinos on Twitter

"Mend your speech a little, lest it may mar your fortunes." - Shakespeare, King Lear

We have the good fortune of highlighting some of the most dynamic Latinos causing shockwaves of influence and engagement across the digital landscape. Twitter is a valuable tool for staying on top of your interests. As a follow up to our 10 Must Follow Prolific Latinos on Twitter post here are an additional 10 must follow dynamic Latinos and Latinas tweeting their way to social domination...eh, adding value to the conversation stream. Celebrity is not a prerequisite for true impact. The following individuals help their followers and interested parties with unique insights that help move the Latinosphere forward.

1. Chiqui Cartagena
Chiqui Cartagena is a seasoned journalist and a Hispanic market guru. She is the author of LATINO BOOM and has done ground-breaking work in Hispanic media.

2. Melanie Edwards
Working mom blogging since 2006 on parenting & life balance. She is also the Owner of Ella Media. Not to mention she was part of a select few of Latina bloggers who had the awesome opportunity to chat with Michelle Obama!

3. Andy Checo
PR pro, US Hispanic market insider, and social media enthusiast. He is the founder of #hprchat (Hispanic PR Chat) a fabulous resource for all things related to connecting more effectively with the burgeoning Latino demographic.

4. Eliana Murillo
Hispanic Community Outreach Lead at Google and the CMO for Tequila Alquimia. She is a Harvard grad and an advocate for social change. A direct connection for Latinos into the world of Google technology.

5. Eva Smith
A prolific entrepreneur, foodie, innovative engineer and the CoFounder of Latina Mom Blogs (@LatinaMomBlogs. Her focus is on education, startups, advocacy, and technology. Her tweets bring a bicultural and bilingual flavor to the digital landscape. She also tweets some of the most stimulating visual images of food you've ever seen! Foodies unite!

6. Miguel Corona
Passionate about helping organizations tap the Latino workforce. He is an educator, researcher, mentor, entrepreneur, father, and one of the best resources for insights on how to understand, reach, and develop Latino talent.

7. Engel Fonseca
Futurist blazing trails from Miami to Mexico and back. He is a public speaker, marketing professor, techpreneur, and the Founder of Neurona Digital and the man behind Hispanomics.info, a research platform for finding the best data about the U.S. Hispanic Digital Advertising Market.

8. Ariel Coro
A technology expert and the author of El Salto. His passion for education and clear vision of the future has helped ordinary people embrace technology and capitalize on its limitless benefits. He is the founder of Tutecnologia.com and the man behind Tecnifícate.

9. Aurelia Flores
Founder and Host of PowerfulLatinas.com a powerhouse of wisdom focused on leadership and empowerment. Her work fosters a community of Latinas re-imagining culture together by blending a mix of personal empowerment messages with community involvement and current, relevant information for the modern Latina woman.

10. Claudia Havi Goffan
A true motivator and recognized expert in Latino Marketing by CNN en Español. She has been named one of the Top 48 PR professionals by the American Express Open Forum. Her stream is rich in valuable information for understanding and connecting with Latinos. She is the Founder of Target Latino. Her energy is contagious.

We could literally be here all day showcasing some of the best and brightest but we understand that you  have work to do so we'll save it for another post. Stay tuned for follow up posts on additional game changers, motivators, influencers, and genuinely friendly prolific Latinos(as) doing big things on Twitter and beyond.

10 Must Follow Prolific Latinos on Twitter

The following is a breakdown of the most dynamic, inspiring, engaging, thought-provoking Latinos and Latinas in the digital space who not only add value to the conversation but also make the new media arena fun, exciting and informative! (By no means does order convey rank, importance, etc.)

Follow these awesome gente on Twitter and be inspired to make big things happen:

1. Frankie De Soto

Frankie is a consistent voice of knowledge and know-how. He is a specialist in SEO, Social Media, Wordpress, Cyberculture, and all things digital. 

2. Jesse Luna

Social innovation and communications specialist with a genuine interest in helping people achieve and move past the status-quo. He brings a fresh perspective to the meaning of groundswell activity.

3. Antonio Altamirano

One of the most dynamic entrepreneurs on Twitter. He is not only the founder of Dabble and Tangelo but a resource for staying on top of all things related to startups between Silicon Valley and South America. 

4. Elianne Ramos

Perhaps, one of the most dynamic Latinas in social media. She is the CEO of Speak Hispanic and the Vice-Chair, Marketing at LATISM. Her name says it all. She's the Universe's 1st and only geek goddess. It's hard not to be inspired by her activity and efforts across the Latinosphere.

5. Joe Kutchera

He literally wrote the book on connecting and engaging with Latinos online. Joe is the author of Latino Link and a social/digital marketing advisor. His tweets offer unique insights into the areas of storytelling, cultural branding, and digital marketing.

6. Juan Alanis

A window into the sphere of cultural expression. Follow Juan and have a blast with fresh perspective that is sure to engage the senses. Think awesome blog posts about Manzanas Enchiladas and the art of doing 'Nada' among other topics most easily classified under the Hispanic Lifestyle umbrella, but by no means exclusive for only a Latino audience.

7. Jes Sofia Valle

Along the path of unstoppable productivity comes a necessary voice of reason and reminder to stop, sit back, relax, and enjoy life. Jes knows the meaning of paying it forward and offers her followers gems of wisdom, motivation, and information. She is the Director of LATISM Los Angeles.

8. Joe Ray

We all need a bit of creative inspiration. He is the VP-Multicultural Marketing at EB Lane, an artist, speaker, writer, self-proclaimed Nopalista, and the Director of LATISM Phoenix. Joe offers a bit of reality and artistic flair to the conversation. "Tweet tweet little birdies..." - Recent tweet.

9. Jennifer Arguello

Project Manager at Mozilla, S.H.P.E. Region 1 Vice-President, and edu tech fan. As one of the faces behind @Latino_Startups, she offers those looking to start something fresh real-world experience in a 140 characters or less.

10. Giovanni Rodriguez

Entrepreneur, author, and public speaker on organizational leadership, marketing, and social technology. We can talk about his articles over at ClickZ and Forbes but the real value comes from Giovanni's affinity with the intersection of marketing and human empowerment.

We couldn't compile a list without leaving perhaps one of the most prolific and successful Latinas on Twitter...

+1 Ana Roca Castro
Ana is a social entrepreneur and the founder of Latinos in Social Media (LATISM), the largest organization of Latino professionals engaged in social media. She is also a serial entrepreneur, education tech developer, proud Latina, and is genuinely interested in helping others make big things happen.

These are just a few of the many dynamic Latinos and Latinas in social media. We know we left off tons of talented gente and will follow up with subsequent posts highlighting some of the best and most prolific Latino voices on Twitter and beyond!

Latin America Leads as the Most Socially-Engaged Global Region

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A recent comScore report on social networking in Latin America shows that more than 127 million Latin Americans ages 15 and older visited a social networking destination from a home or work computer in April 2012, with the average visitor spending 7.5 hours social networking during the month. The report also provided analysis on emerging social network Pinterest.com, which saw its audience increase eightfold in the first four months of the year to reach 1.3 million Latin Americans in April.

“Not does nearly 100 percent of the Latin American Internet population visit social networking destinations each month, but they also spend a lot of time on the sites,” said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president of Latin America. “While social networking isn’t a new phenomenon, we are still seeing strong market growth, changing dynamics among the leading players, and the emergence of new social sites that make it an especially interesting market to watch right now.”

Latin America is an ideal and burgeoning market for technology, social media, and startups. 

For the full article, visit comScore.

7 Hyper Relevant Facts on the Hispanic Market

Back in May 2011, comScore reported that 787,000 Hispanics visited Tumblr, making up 9% of total U.S. traffic. (Tweet)

In the past 12 months, Tumblr's total U.S. traffic grew 218% while Tumblr's U.S. Hispanic traffic grew 312%. (Tweet)

Latino digital getting lots of alone time these days because of its surprising status in the digital marketing food chain. (Tweet)

Early experiments in the most promising sector of the Latino marketing world - digital - will pay off big. (Tweet)

Latinos, in the aggregate, out-index all other ethnic groups on public social networks. (Tweet)

12% of US Hispanic mobile users use social networks on their mobile vs. 10% of the general market. (Tweet)

87% of Hispanic households have multiple mobile phones... Tweet)

Millennials and the Fear of Missing Out

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It’s not exactly news that the Millennial Generation (loosely defined as people born between 1980 and 2000) spend a lot of time on websites like Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. But according to recent findings from a study conducted by MTV, for today’s young people, the constant social networking isn’t all fun and games. While more than half of the Millennials polled by MTV agreed with the statement “what I post online defines who I am,” a good percent of them also said they find it “exhausting to always be ‘on’.”

FOMO or the "Fear of Missing Out" is a huge part of why today's users spend so much time online.

Read the full "Social Media is Not All Fun and Games" article.

Latinos + Smartphone Usage -- Story

How to Lead Engagement in the Latinosphere

The Hispanic market is ever-changing and it can sometimes seem hard to keep up but recent activity shows that social media offers a great alternative for reaching this unique audience. The question is not whether or not this audience exists but rather is how do we reach Latinos or better yet...

What can we accomplish when Latinos and social media collide? (Here are a few ideas...)

Build a Think Tank
The opportunity for collaboration and cooperation is crystal clear. Individuals from private and public sectors have the ability to join togethe and form unique think tanks leading to the development of an ideation hub. We see numerous opportunities for students and professionals alike from all over the Latinosphere to communicate and drive innovation. (Ex. Create your own facebook group.)

Share Golden Content
There's been a recent explosion of activity across various media outlets about an individual with a 'golden voice'. Someone posted a video of this man and boom! it took off from there. If an individual standing on the corner has this kind of opportunity...what kind of opportunities and stories do you think the Latinosphere has in store? Golden content is simplistic, moving, and original. Today's bloggers and content creators have an opportunity to share their own story. The key is to make sharing your story as easy as possible.

Engagement begins with knowing your target audience and bringing them something of value. A mission-driven approach to driving content creation and audience awareness can lead to lasting results.

Latinos in Social Media and the Power of Leverage

The explosion of social media has created a tidal wave of activity and Latinos are the driving force behind this momentum. Countless articles and blog posts are springing up providing today's interested parties with a unique perspective into how Latinos are using social media to lead, influence, and foster change.

However, as researchers and opportunists, we must move beyond this data and into the arena of action. The validation of the U.S. Hispanic market is expanding as are numerous opportunities to innovate and make full use of our resources, knowledge, and capabilities.

Enter the dynamic element of leverage.

lev·er·age (According to Dictionary.com)
1. the action of a lever.

2. the mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever.

3. power or ability to act or to influence people, events, decisions, etc.; sway: Being the only industry in town gave the company considerable leverage in its union negotiations.

4. the use of a small initial investment, credit, or borrowed funds to gain a very high return in relation to one's investment, to control a much larger investment, or to reduce one's own liability for any loss.

The biggest lesson in argumentation and persuasive writing (which is indeed a big part of advertising and public relations) is to use supporting material. Armed with tons of supporting material validating the size, impact, and sheer potential for return on investment in the Hispanic market, we must move into the dynamic arena of action and innovation.

Rather than participate in a continual spiral of information exchange and data sharing, we must embark on opportunities to leverage our efforts and focus on areas to change the game no matter what our 'game' happens to be.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?

Innovate. Move beyond research into the realm of possibility and opportunity.