The Chatty Caribbean, Naturally

Anyone who’s spent time in the Caribbean knows that the people of those splendid islands are friendly, generous of spirit, kind and very social. We recently worked on several research projects for consumer product companies looking to understand the online nature of people in the Caribbean as they developed marketing strategies. We were impressed with their online presence and the volume of chatter.

Perhaps it is natural that the more “social” a culture is that this nature should translate well into Cyburbia? It certainly does in the Caribbean. According to CARICOM (a great organization helping foster development in the Caribbean) there are just over 10 Million people online in the region or roughly 24% of the population. Facebook data indicates about 4 million online or 42% of the online population. Not bad.

Here’s some of our findings on social media use in the Caribbean;

Age Groups & Gender
The 20-39 range is the most active in social media channels. This is trending lower than the US, Canada and South America where we actually see the 30-49 segment more active overall. In North America professionals are also more active than in the Caribbean, although business discussions do feature prominently. It would seem to be almost equal with females edging just slightly above males, similar to other parts of the world.

Top Social Networks in the Caribbean
Facebook doesn’t lead the way yet, but no doubt will at some point. Or perhaps not. One thing we noticed about content in social media channels in the Caribbean is that they love to share music, video and photo’s, especially that which they’ve created themselves. Facebook doesn’t allow for much “creativity” with it’s pages like some of the social networks in the Caribbean do. Ranking is based on number of members, mentions in news and social media channels and Alexa rank.

Key Topics
Seems like Caribbean folks love to talk about dating and romance. Music closely followed discussions on dating and romance and slipping in at third place is politics. They love to discuss politics within their own countries, the Caribbean as a whole and then global issues. Travel was mostly amongst the various islands but also to other countries, most notably the US, Africa and UK.

Most Active in Social Media
Here we looked at which of the primary countries is most active in social media. We factored in overall population, Internet penetration and adjusted accordingly. The Bahamas leads the way followed by Jamaica and then Trinidad & Tobego. We did not include Cuba in this research.

Summary
The Caribbean overall represents a small market compared to the US or Europe, but when it comes to being online, they are increasingly engaged. Social media usage has only really taken off in the last two years, but they are catching up quickly. Twitter is increasingly popular and they love to blog, create and share videos and images. This is a very expressive and passionate part of the world. Median incomes are rising and there is a growing middle class meaning business opportunities will only increase for marketers. The mobile market is growing rapidly in the Caribbean as well and the people are an increasingly sophisticated market. Any marketers who think otherwise will be making a costly mistake.

Research Notes & Copyright:

The data reported here is approved for release by the respective clients and is in aggregate form. In our research we do not look at the profiles of individuals and we do not report on personal information to clients nor do we collect and store any. Information was collected using our proprietary technology, MS360 and validated by analysts and third party services. Information is subject to change and was considered accurate at the time of the creation of the work product. Data and information herein is copyright MediaBadger Public Affairs Ltd. (Canada) and MediaBadger Ltd. (UK). Please attribute ownership if using the information herein. Further information can be obtained by contacting us.