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Univision Taps Social Media To Promote Hispanic Education

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/31/12

Although one in five students in the public school system is Hispanic, Latinos have the lowest education attainment levels in the country. Half of Hispanic youth earn a high school diploma on time. Thirteen percent of Hispanics hold a bachelor's degree. With the Hispanic population growing at four times the rate of growth of the total population in the United States, say experts, an educated workforce needs to support the educational success of Hispanic students.

Univision Communications, an American Spanish language media company, used social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, along with traditional mechanisms--television, in-person events, and phone banks--to promote the attainment of education by Hispanics and draw students and their parents into learning more about their educational options. This is the second time that Univision has sponsored the event, which also was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the College Board, and Televisa Foundation, among others.

October's "¡Edúcate! Es el momento" or "Educate! It's time" featured an online college fair, which the company said drew 7,000 logins and participation from 134 colleges and universities.

The hub for the event resided online at eselmomento.com, which provided scheduling and streamed a series of live webcast town halls in English that drew guest speakers, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Olympian Leonel Manzano.

According to the company, the activities drew a hundred million impressions on Twitter with the #eselmomento hashtag; reached hundreds of thousands through special GetGlue stickers; and grew el momento's Facebook traffic by nearly 2,000 percent.

Other efforts included a Google+ Hangout with journalist Pamela Silva Conde, a Univision Pinterest board, and a Twit cam discussion on the importance of parental involvement in a student's education efforts.