Social Media Is The Black Media Frontier

Just because the 21st century is in its teenage years and America has a black First Family, doesn’t mean differences in cultures between races and ethnicities have or will dissipate. Even in the online universe, demographic differences have begun to emerge. Aside from BlackPeopleMeet.com, nowhere else is that more evident than on social media. A recent study released by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project paints a very specific picture for the cultural divide on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.

The study featuring input from 1800 respondents found that only 14% of whites use Twitter as opposed to the 26% of black people that use the site. The study also found that 23% of blacks are Instagram users while only 11% of white users use the site.

Interestingly enough, there seems to be a correlation between consumerism and social networking in the African-American community.

According to a 2012 Nielsen study, Blacks and Hispanics are leading the way in the purchase of smartphones and tablets – with 54.4% of African-Americans and 57.3% of Hispanics owning smartphones versus 44.7% of whites.

It's an enlightening study, but If you’ve ever been up late, scrolling through your timeline and noticed the plethora of #RHOA tweets, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

 

 

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