Latino Babies and Social Networking Unaffected by Financial Markets – BabySpotLatino.com Debuts with Great Success on Univision’s Despierta America

BabySpot.com announced today the launch of BabySpotLatino.com, a new social networking site for Latino parents and their families, which successfully debuted on the #1 Hispanic morning show, Univision’s Despierta America on Thursday, September 25th at 9:38am EDT. Within the first fifteen minutes after the show aired, over 100 Latino families joined the site. View the show at tinyurl.com/babyspotlatino .

Not only did the usage of social networking sites by Hispanics soar by more than 200% in 2006 according to Forrester Research, but they also suggest that U.S.-based Hispanic consumers are significantly more likely to participate in online social media than their non-Hispanic counterparts. BabySpot Latino addressed this surge by providing Latino parents and their families with a free, safe and secure forum (a Baby Spot) in which to celebrate the joys of becoming and being parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, as well as for networking and educational purposes to include sharing advice and experiences, staying in touch with relatives abroad and creating lasting friendships and business opportunities.

Zameer Upadhya, CEO of BabySpotLatino.com states, “Debuting on the leading Spanish language morning talk show as we are about to launch this new site is simply amazing. Our main goal is to provide an intimate, culturally relevant networking environment that allows for Latino parents and their families to safely connect on various levels with their family members and friends who are experiencing the same joys as they are.”

“NacerSano.org, the March of Dimes’ Latino arm, is going to provide BabySpot Latino with rich educational material on pregnancy and baby health issues designed to help keep families and their children happy, healthy and safe,” notes Mr. Upadhya.

Forrester Research notes that certain aspects of Hispanic culture attract Hispanics to the world of online social networking. Traditionally, Hispanics are early adopters of leisure technologies, which corresponds to using online social networking features. Furthermore, Hispanic culture emphasizes the group over the individual, hence looking to others for guidance.

Mr. Upadhya continues, “The unique features employed on BabySpot Latino are designed to cater to many Latino cultural aspects. Unique site features include options to facilitate in-person events, connection via live chat and blogging, Twitter-like micro-blogging for posting baby blurbs and profile updates, unlimited storage for videos and pictures and the latest in web 2.0 technologies which have been made easy to use. Features also include customizable private or public web page profiles, group formation and various organizational tools.”

A new report from Forrester Research shows U.S. Hispanics are active online social networkers. Three thousand online Hispanics were surveyed, and results showed 69% of Hispanic’s, compared to 42% of non-Hispanics, were characterized as spectators, meaning they peruse what others do, suggesting that this is a level where interactivity starts to increase. 40% of Hispanics, compared to 12% of non-Hispanics, were characterized as creators, meaning they actively pursued social networks by blogging, uploading photos and videos and creating personal web pages.

Additionally, research shows that out of 4 million US births, 25% of those were Hispanic. BabySpot Latino provides a cultural outlet for these families in order to add to the quality of their lives. “

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