Traditional media is being impacted by the world of Latino social media. We at Hispanicize will continue to encourage and report on this practice.

Listed below are some of the individuals who have recently made appearances offline due to their efforts on the social web.

- Migdalia Rivera of Latina on a Mission, and partner of Hispanicze:

- Lance Rios of Being Latino in Latino Leaders Magazine:

(click pic for full story)

- Yoly Mason’s recent entry into USA Weekend’s LiveSmart:

- Jennifer Hutcheson appears on CBS’s The Talk (later part of Video – Follow Friday).
- Louis Pagan talking about the Hispanicize Latino Social Media Conference.

- Manny Ruiz of Hispanicize in an article on Univision – “Los blogueros latinos empiezan a dejar su marca en Estados Unidos” and on CNN en español:

If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Given the recent buzz of how Latinos are leveraging social media, it may come as a surprise that they can find the same liberating experience through a large media corporation, namely Fox News Latino.

The social web has penetrated the way we communicate and has empowered the individual; not wanting to be tossed aside, large businesses have adapted these new tools and have learned to bend like reeds in the wind rather than be snapped in half “Fox News Latino has thrown itself into the social media space. The old way of doing things is no longer viable. We can’t sit idly by and expect people to come to our site…we need to bring our content to the online community,” said Adrian Carrasquilo, a writer and social media community manager for FNL.

By distributing their content and interacting on Facebook and Twitter, FNL is playing in the same sandbox that their readers play in. The comments section of their stories encourage feedback, their Facebook page remains open to input, and their presence on the even greater, wider open vacuum better known as Twitter leaves them utterly and intimately engaged with the public. The sensitivity meters are set on high and FNL is listening “We provide slightly different content to each community and post less on Facebook because we know no one wants their newsfeed cluttered,” he said.

There are many passionate Latinos working at FNL who believe what they are doing is valuable for U.S. Latinos “we are inspired by providing something for the Hispanic community in the U.S. and abroad that no one else is doing – news for second and third generation Latinos in English. Every day we are rewarded by being able to cover stories that don’t get as much attention as they should, and it’s a self-fulfilling cycle,” said Francisco Cortes, head manager of Fox News Latino. Francisco has been with Fox News for over 10 years, and over the course of a year he had met with top executives at Fox News and developed the idea of FNL. Francisco constantly praises his team and encourages reader’s input, “The more people we can reach with our stories, the more stories we will be able to unearth and receive from readers as well.”

The proof is in the pudding. Go to Fox News Latino and see for yourself. There are top notch and encompassing stories of interest to the Hispanic community across the United States. Topics range from News, Politics, Sports, and Entertainment with Health, Lifestyle and Español sections. Fox News Latino is positioning itself to be the online voice of Latinos. There is also a soon to be launched Community section which will draw stories from organizations that are doing good things to everyday people who are making a true difference in the lives of Latinos.

It’s encouraging to see the caliber of content produced by FNL, and more so is the opportunity for Latinos at large to participate and influence the type of stories they want to see by taking advantage of the social web. William James, an American philosopher and psychologist said “He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.” The question now is thrown back to the Latino community: Will they take advantage of a large media corporation courting their input on what Fox News Latino should be?

A great article…it even seems to have some picante to it as it’s spiced up with some humor and witty lines.

If you have some image in your head of a poor campesino looking confusedly at a computer screen, delete it. Replace that with an image of Perez Hilton tweeting and blogging and instant-messaging all day. In fact, Latinos far outpace Anglos in online and mobile usage. Of all wireless users in the U.S., 39% of U.S.-Hispanics use their mobile devices to read the news, in comparison to just 17% of non-Hispanics.

Note the quick change to ‘Latino’ from ‘Hispanic’ when talking about online/mobile usage.  I almost got excited about that, but then noted that Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably throughout the piece.  It’s still a great read.

The ability to cement your message within the stream of media conversation is more vital NOW than ever before.  We stand at the cusp of change.

With history unfolding before us, we must ensure our views engage the forefront of America’s, and thus the world’s conciousness.  Otherwise, others will define everything for us.

This is why I’m a huge advocate of new media.  It  provides the tools, which enables the masses to thrust forth with their stories and viewpoints.

If you are not so inclined, that’s okay but please support those who express this interest.