Thursday, March 19, 2009

What Digital Divide?


The digital divide is narrowing. Today is like Christmas for yours truly. Scarborough Research just released a study on Hispanic online activity. In all key aspects especially pertaining to content downloads, Hispanics are leading the pack. (45% downloads vs. 32% for non-Hispanics.)

It's not that I want to say I told you so. But, today I sort of do. While the report does indicate that the total number of Hispanics online does lag the general population (54% vs. 68%), the rate of growth is staggering. Also, Hispanics leap frogged dial-up connections and went straight to broadband with penetration of 68% vs. 71% for the general population.

What I did find quite surprising is that online purchasing does not lag general market as much as I originally thought. In fact, 62% of Hispanics reported buying something online in the past 12 months vs. 70% for all internet users. They also spent similar amounts online to the general population ($762 vs. $861.) This new data does make me want to reevaluate my previous post on Hispanic online shopping.

All in all, the information contained in this report provides more evidence of the growing importance of the digital space for Hispanics. We continue to debunk the digital divide.

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