Storytelling Through Video: How Latinas Are Sharing Culture Online Today’s Latina woman is vastly different from her mother’s generation. Living bi-cultural lives and sometimes navigating two languages, U.S. Latinos often feel the need to hold on to cultural traditions to preserve their heritage and pass it down to new generations. With social media allowing for easy sharing of stories, many Latinas have taken to blogging and video for storytelling. These digital Latinas are producing content online in English, Spanish, and sometimes both! Learn what type of stories these women are telling and how using video has helped them in sharing their culture with audiences worldwide. Presentation from the SheStreams 2012 conference.

1. STORYTELLING
THROUGH VIDEO:
HOW LATINAS ARE
SHARING CULTURE ONLINE
Melanie Edwards - EllaMedia.com - @EllaMedia
#SheStreamsLatinaVid #SheStreams

2. Background
 Blogging/social
media since 2006
 Growing number of
Latinas using
social media
 Growing number of
brands partnering
with Latinas –
since 2010
 Why is this
important?
@EllaMedia #SheStreamsLatinaVid #SheStreams

3. Importance of Digital Latinas
 48 million Latinos in
the United States1
 Buying power in excess
1
of $1 trillion
 Nueva Latina – largest,
fastest-growing
Hispanic woman sub-
segment with
marketing size of 4
million2
 Over 2000 documented
Latina-owned blogs3
1
Latino Consumers: Demographic Patterns and Spending Trends among Hispanic Americans, 8th Edition, January 2011
2
Engage: Hispanics, July 2010
3
Blogs by Latinas Online Directory

4. Latinas & Culture
 2010: only 21%
U.S. Hispanic
women felt
social networks
4
met needs
 Lack of content
for Latinas
 Latinas sharing
culture online &
creating own
content Photo: Dariela Cruz, MamiTalks.com
4
The Use of Social Networks by Latin Women, Sophia Mind, 2010

5. Sharing Culture Online
“…some stories just need to be
seen to really be understood
...sounds, facial expressions, hand
movements make a huge
difference when you're telling a
story with Latin flavor.”
Carrie Weir - TikiTikiBlog.com
Photo: Blanca Stella, MiCaminar.com
@EllaMedia #SheStreamsLatinaVid #SheStreams

6. Sharing Culture Online
“Sharing my culture online is
 Storytelling
important because it just is who I  Parenting, Fashion,
am... I could not NOT…celebrate
my culture…that wouldn´t be me. Food, Lifestyle,
Video…allows my voice to come Entertainment, Politics
out with all it’s tone, color…distinct
dialect and accent.”  Recipes
Ana Flores – SpanglishBaby.com  Heritage
 Language
 Video
@EllaMedia #SheStreamsLatinaVid #SheStreams

7. Latinas & Video

8. Latinas & Video

9. How Can You Share Culture?
 Stories told to you
 Traditions
 Recipes
 Lessons learned
 Songs
 Games
 You & your children

10. “We share the stories of growing up,
and living, Latino…to remind ourselves
of our roots [and] interesting
traditions…I am trying to hang on…to
the uniqueness of my culture…”
Photo: Rona Proudfoot/Flickr
Carrie Weir, TikiTikiBlog.com
“…I just wanted to show others how my
family and I express our…roots without
the negative stereotypes.”
Divina Rodriguez, DancingHotDogs.com

11. Questions?
How do you share
your culture online?
Melanie Edwards
EllaMedia.com | @EllaMedia
#SheStreamsLatinaVid #SheStreams