Hi there,

This is a first release of results of our (impressive) digital lifestyle survey conducted a couple of months ago…

As opposed to USA and Europe where there seems to be a uniform social networking trend, Latin America shows fragmented usage.

This report is based on a study conducted in Latin America in September 2007 by Livra Panels. Over 60,000 people where interviewed online in 8 different countries.

The study reveals that the use of social networking sites is considerably higher in Brazil than in other countries. 69% of Brazilians mention the use of social networking sites as one of the things they do on the Internet while only 21% in Argentina and 37% in Mexico.

While the US and Europe rave about Facebook and MySpace, the social networking scene in Latin America shows a very different picture. These are the top three sites in each of the top three countries where people said to be signed up to:

Argentina: 1. MSN Spaces (37%) , 2. My Space (22%), 3. Hi5 (17%)
Brazil: 1. Orkut (79%), 2. MSN Spaces (41%), 3. My Space (15%)
Mexico: 1. MSN Spaces (55%) 2. Hi5 (46%), 3.My Space (40%)

Respondents indicated to be mostly attracted by these sites for their ability to let them 1) share and view their friends’ pictures, 2) make new friends and 3) stay in touch with current friends.

Although in average only 12 % of Latin American users use social networking sites to search for a casual “romantic encounter”, the percentage gets much higher when divided by gender. 48% of men are looking for a casual romantic encounter on social networking sites as opposed to 9% of women.

Press release here:

Almost 70% of Brazilian Internet users use social networking sites [WebWire]