By Nicholas Sutherland
Brazil was recently named the “social media capital of the universe” by the Wall Street Journal. A rapid uplift in Facebook users means the country is second only to the USA in terms of account holders, even Twitter recently set up a major office there. And Brazilian users are among the world's most engaged, spending an increasing amount of time on social media sites.
Brazil is a nation of early-adopters – and not just in terms of technology. Political and economic stability are new to the country, which is only now beginning to experience a culture with an empowered middle-class. This is a population for which so much is new that adaptability has become second nature.
In many ways, Brazil is the ideal target for social media marketers – with a young, savvy, socially-connected population who are happy to engage with brands. While Facebook use reaches saturation point in North America and Europe, it’s still growing fast in Brazil.
According to comScore's 2012 Brazil Digital Future in Focus report, more than 46 million Brazilians are now online, with an impressive 97 percent using social media. This figure doesn’t take into account the high number of mobile-only users, which pushes the figures up even higher.
After a slow start, Facebook has finally taken off in the country, with user numbers soaring to 65 million users in 2012, while the country is the second biggest market outside the US for Google’s YouTube. It’s also one of Twitter's fastest growing markets.
According to comScore's 2012 Brazil Digital Future in Focus report, more than 46 million Brazilians are now online, with an impressive 97 percent using social media. This figure doesn’t take into account the high number of mobile-only users, which pushes the figures up even higher.
After a slow start, Facebook has finally taken off in the country, with user numbers soaring to 65 million users in 2012, while the country is the second biggest market outside the US for Google’s YouTube. It’s also one of Twitter's fastest growing markets.
Once they’re connected, users are bucking the global trend by spending more time interacting on social networks. While globally, the average time spent on Facebook dropped 2% to 361 minutes per month in September 2012 (according to comScore) it rose by 208% to 535 minutes in Brazil.
As well as the major players, Brazilians have also embraced smaller niche networks. ComScore also reported that Vostu (a social gaming site) grew by 338% in 2011, while Tumblr use grew by 206%. Badoo, a site that combines social networking with online dating, is hugely popular with more than 14 million users.
Alexandre Hohagen, vice president of Facebook's Latin America division, puts the obsession with social media partly down to Brazil’s extroverted culture. It’s common for Brazilians to strike up conversations in elevators, restaurants, and other public places. People have always loved chatting about TV shows, sports and the news. Now younger viewers are turning tv series, soap operas and televised soccer matches into a shared experience, posting real-time updates to Twitter and Facebook.
In a country with a big rich-poor divide, social media bridges class divisions. Although broadband use is still patchy (and expensive), mobile phones provide a much cheaper way to get connected. Twitter has targeted mobile users since it first launched in Brazil.
Brazilian flavor
Sponsorship of Brazilian events - with a digital element - is one relatively simple way of doing this.. YouTube’s Brazilian domain has sold sponsorships for live-streaming events such as Carnival in Salvador and Rock In Rio for the first time in 2011, allowing global brands such as Volkswagen, Garnier and Santander to access the marketing power of local events. With the FIFA World Cup coming to Brazil in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro hosting the 2016 Olympics this is an area that looks set to grow.
