Innovaters of new technology are Asian and Hispanic

A recent study published by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communications at Florida State University highlights the vast differences and similarities among cultures toward media, attitudes, brands and spending. Four groups (non-Hispanic white, African-American, Asian and Hispanic) of AOL users were surveyed.

Hispanics and Asians seem to be the leaders in new technology adoption and ownership, including blogs, web sites, cell phones with cameras, video cameras, DVD burners and MP3 players.

Ownership and use of TiVo or digital video recorders, DVD players, cable TV and broadband are equal among all ethniciites.

The report sums up the multicultural equation for new technology ownership rates as follows:

New technology ownership rests heavily on cultural difference. Commonalities across groups hang mostly with the older technologies. The stronger presence of Hispanics and Asians in cutting edge technology possession provides a message to all who are involved in those industries: The emerging minority groups are innovators in this category.

I would have been interested to see if age, education and socioeconomic level had more to do with the adoption of new technologies than race.

Note: Information from Media Technolgies Futures (Lydia Loizides 2/7/07)
Marketing To The Differences Or The Status Quo? For a copy of the study, email Lydia Loizides (techieandthemedia at yahoo dot com).

Tags: technology, ethnicity