How Many US Hispanics on Twitter

Updated on 9/9/2015

Several years ago, we provided an outlook of how many US Latinos/Hispanics can be found on Twitter. Today we announce the much needed update which discusses the number of total US Hispanics on Twitter. This is key information for brands looking to launch a Twitter account targeting US Latinos as it provides an estimate of how large the followership of your brand’s Twitter profile could potentially be. Further, this article contains insight into which language should be used for the voice of the Twitter profile. Choosing to use English, Spanish or a bilingual approach on the Twitter account is a very real question that all brands need to decide upon as they look to target the Hispanic market.

Now lets review the numbers.

9.6 Million US Hispanics using Twitter.

Today there are approximately 9.6 million US Hispanics on Twitter. Of that amount 31%, or 3.0 million Hispanics, prefer Spanish and would be more likely to follow a Twitter profile providing Spanish content. 44%, or 4.2 million US Latinos favor English and are more likely to follow a Twitter profile that is providing stories and media in English. Finally, 25% of US Hispanics (2.4 million) are bilingual and would be happy to follow a Twitter profile content in either language or Spanglish.

The graph presented below helps to visualize:

Which Language do Hispanics Prefer when Following Brands on Twitter?

Hispanics preferring Spanish would likely prefer to follow pages offering daily content in Spanish such as Big Lots Latino or State Farm Latino Twitter profile. Hispanics that typically converse with family, friends, and colleagues in English are likely to prefer English language Twitter profiles. A good example of Twitter profiles catering to English preferring Hispanics are Being Latino as well as Tampico. Many brands are targeting bilingual Hispanics, and this strategy has grown significantly in recent years. One good example to model from is Procter & Gamble’s Orgullosa campaign.

Calculations of Hispanics on Twitter:

1. Total US Hispanic Adults over 18 = 38.4MM based on 2014 US Census estimates.
2.Total US Hispanic Twitter Users = 9.6MM (38.4 * 25%). Based on Pew 2014 Social Media Demographic data.
3. Spanish Dominant US Hispanics = 3.0MM (9.6MM * 31%). Combines Latin Americans and all Spanish favoring Hispanics in the US.
4. English Dominant US Hispanics = 4.2MM (9.6MM * 44%). Includes 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics and all other English favoring Hispanics.
5. Bilingual US Hispanics = 2.4MM (9.6MM * 25%). The large portion of Hispanics whom are comfortable with either language.

Note: There are a few differing numbers on the language preferences of Hispanics, including those that are referring to Hispanic Online Adults. For the basis of this research we chose to be consistent with the use of Geoscape’s language data. There are valid arguments that can be reviewed on this page which indicate other percentages of Hispanic language dominance.

Thoughts?

How do these figures compare with what you would imagined? What other factors are key when determining the tonality of messaging to the US Hispanic audience? Please place your thoughts in the Comments below.