Here’s what Facebook knows about ethnic minorities on social media

There were a few relevant insights for journalists in a South by Southwest (SXSW) session that was primarily designed to motivate advertisers and marketers to target Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians on Facebook. If you want to get relevant content in front of a diverse audience on social media, you have to understand the nuances of how that audience is different from the general population, the presenters argued. Christian Martinez, head of US multicultural sales for Facebook, described a study that Facebook and Ipsos MediaCT performed last August on 1,600 Facebook users.

Where ethnic minorities used to see their physical neighborhood as the primary way they connect to their culture and heritage, now it’s through social media, said Virginia Lennon, senior vice president of partnerships for Ipsos. Where minorities used to connect in person and on the telephone, now social media provides a constant connection to their family and friends, especially for those who are separated by physical distance and even national borders. “What it means is that these multicultural consumers live digital lives more so than their gen-pop (general population) counterparts,” she said. “They are creating neighborhoods that are fully-formed and self-formed. They are acting in an enhanced way when it comes to communication.”