Report shows 'dramatic' rise in number of Latinos using Internet

Latino adult use of the Internet nationwide gained 10 percentage points from 2006 to 2008, surpassing the rate for black adults and closing the gap with whites, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The leap for Latinos is "pretty dramatic," said Gretchen Livingston, senior researcher for the Washington, D.C.-based research organization focused on Latino issues. "They're still lagging behind whites, but I was stunned by the increase."

The report found that 64 percent of Latinos used the Internet last year, up from 54 percent in 2006. In comparison, the rate for whites was 76 percent (vs. 72 percent in 2006) and for blacks it was 63 percent (vs. 61 percent in 2006). Pew did not break down the data by state or metro area.

Latino online users are growing faster than the overall U.S. online audience, according to Internet research firm comScore. It says that more than 20 million unique Latino users account for 11 percent of Americans online.

Where do Latinos go online? ComScore found that they like entertainment sites, such as music, gaming, community hubs and chat rooms.

The findings reflect what Dallas Concilio of Hispanic Service Organizations has seen. Until recently, the nonprofit for groups, corporations and individuals working with Latinos didn't like to send e-mail notices to parents in its education programs because they weren't sure how many people the messages would reach, but that has changed, said president Florencia Velasco Fortner.

"We've found that a lot of parents have e-mail accounts, when in the past they never did," Fortner said. "Some of the parents are a lot more Internet-savvy than we thought."

The Pew report found that Latinos' Internet use rose if they were younger or had higher education and income levels. Livingston suspects some of the growth came from Latinos' increased use of wireless technology, but the report didn't study that.

In 2008, 77 percent of Latinos ages 18 to 34 were online, compared with 53 percent of those 50 to 64 and 25 percent of those older.

Last year, 92 percent of Latino college graduates used the Internet, compared with 41 percent of those without a high school diploma. Command of the English language also made a difference: 81 percent of Latinos who read English well were online, but only 24 percent of those who can't read English were.

However, gains are being made. Internet use by foreign-born Latinos, those lacking a high school diploma and those with household incomes of less than $30,000 all showed double-digit gains from 2006 to 2008.

Ralph Castro, founder of two Hispanic chambers of commerce in the Dallas area, sees education as key to more Latinos going online. Many of his members don't read English well or don't own a computer, he said, and older Latinos are less likely to go online for fear of the unknown and of strangers gaining access to their personal accounts.

Next year, Castro's chambers in southeast Dallas and Grand Prairie plan to offer courses on computer literacy from how to launch a Web site to how to find government contracts online to their combined 160 members.

The Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet & American Life Project compiled the results from eight telephone surveys in English and Spanish of 21,241 adults.

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