Communispace

Diane Tarr-Smith, 617-607-8581

dtarrsmith@communispace.com

or

Greenough Communications

Susan Willson, 617-275-6529

swillson@greenoughcom.com

Communispace, creator of private, online customer communities for more than 100 of the world's leading brands, today announced the findings of their proprietary research on Hispanic behavior in Spanish-speaking private online communities. This original research revealed a number of trends that validate the effectiveness of using online mediums such as communities and social networks to reach Hispanic audiences. The research also offers strategic guidance for doing so more effectively.

Among the actionable findings for marketers are:

-- Hispanics, regardless of age, income, primary language, gender or generation, will give willingly of their time and ideas in a private, online forum. In fact, their rate of contributions - almost six per week - indicates an above-average level of engagement compared to similar English-language communities.

-- Second-generation Hispanics demonstrated lower participation rates than their less acculturated, first-generation counterparts, indicating that they may feel less comfortable communicating in Spanish-only environments than in bilingual ones. The finding suggests that marketers should strive to communicate bilingually with acculturated Hispanics, so as to more closely match their offline lives.

-- Second-generation Hispanics are often less proficient at writing Spanish than at speaking it. Marketers should take this distinction into account when seeking to engage with Hispanics through predominantly written channels such as online forums.

"With the number of Hispanic Internet users in the U.S. expected to rise to nearly 21 million by 2010, it's clear that marketers have a tremendous opportunity to grow their consumer base by successfully targeting Hispanics online," said Katrina Lerman, research associate at Communispace and author of the study. "The problem is, most marketers have questioned if and how online venues are an effective channel for communicating with Hispanics. In conducting this research, we set out to help our clients understand if and how they can use online communities to successfully engage members of this important consumer segment, and what differences within this broad and diverse population should be considered in formulating a community strategy. Our findings offer valuable insight not only for businesses evaluating online communities, but also for marketers considering other online channels--such as social networks--as a strategy for engaging Hispanics online."

To learn more about the findings of Communispace's research on Hispanic consumers and online communities, please contact Susan Willson, public relations representative for Communispace, at 617.275.6529 or swillson@greenoughcom.com.

About Communispace

Communispace Corporation is the leader in building, managing and facilitating private branded communities that deliver the voice of the customer and enable businesses to generate continuous insights, drive faster innovation, and drive revenue. Founded in 1999, the company has created more than 300 customer communities for industry leaders such as Kraft, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, Hallmark, Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and Hilton Hotels. Headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, the company has offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta and San Remo, Italy.

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