Hispanic-Net

Relationships Matter in Technology Adoption

Charlene Li of Forrester gave an insightful presentation on emerging social strategies at PARC December 6th.

"Many companies approach Social Computing as a list of technologies to be deployed as needed — a blog here, a podcast there — to achieve a marketing goal. But a more coherent approach is to start with your target audience and determine what kind of relationship you want to build with them, based on what they are ready for."

Here are some highlights:

Coherent social strategies - POST Method:
P = people; who is using the technology
O= objective; why are you doing this; are your customers using these social technologies
S= strategies; short and long term
T= technolgy; once P, O, and S are covered can you pick the technologies

Social Networking the (Ask a) Mexican Way

  Alexis Madrigal has a terrific blog posting of Tierra Natal.  Unlike the review in TechCrunch that somehow missed the point, Alexis understands and articulates how TierraNatal stands out from the crowd:

Tierra Natal is an excellent example of how to capture the value of a real-life network. It allows Mexicans and Mexican-Americans (Chicanos, if you must) to connect not just via their current place of residence, but where they come from. The Techcrunch gloss misses that this is of pretty vital importance for many in the Mexican communities.

P.S. That really cool picture of that hot-looking couple?  They're my parents.

Seth Godin on the Digital Divide

It's interesting how when you focus on something you start running into it everywhere.  It's an example of the Law of Attraction I suppose. Or synchronicity.  I was perusing Seth Godin's book on Small is the New Big and he has a riff on the Digital Divide.

Cool New Companies

English180

Founded by Andres Moreno, English180 responds to the need of more than 2 billion people worldwide seeking to learn English as a second language in a more engaging, interactive and enjoyable way.

LaborFair

Jose Arocha recently joined LaborFair, a social enterprise focused on leveraging the power of the net to create a direct and trustworthy channel between consumers and workers in the informal economy.  This is the best place to find a painter, gardener, nanny, handyman or other informal help online.

TierraNatal

Hispanic-Net May event panelist Liliana Miranda Townshend has launched the public beta of Tierra Natal.  Tierra Natal is the first social networking site that reunites recently arrived Hispanic immigrants, hometown associations and their communities of origin.

Hispanic-Net Group on Facebook

Not to be left behind, we've created a members-only Hispanic-Net group on Facebook.  To join you need to a)have an account on Facebook and b) be a dues paying member of Hispanic-Net.  After all, members should have some exclusive privileges.

The question remains though - do and will Latinos leverage social networking tools?  I've been approached by more than one academic on this question.  Do social networking tools like LinkedIn and Facebook give further advantage to people with social capital and connections?  Does it accelerate their access?  Can Hispanics, women and other under-represented groups close the gap and increase their social capital?

We'll see.