Social Networking in Chile

Top 10 Social Networking Sites In Chile

FOTOLOG.COM            2,824
Blogger                             2,577
Facebook                          2,019
Wordpress.com                 1,392
Windows Live Spaces      1,391

Yahoo! Geocities                905
Flickr                                   660
Hi5                                      497
Sonico                                 493
Lycos Tripod                      346

http://www.hitsearchlimited.com/news/999931/

-Chile's use of social networking Web sites is the highest in Latin America, and numbers have surpassed North America as well

-7 million Chileans have Internet access either at home or at work and, nine out of 10 of these people use social networking Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/news/1-other/19520-chiles-use-of-social-networking-web-sites-highest-in-latin-america

-88% of the population lives in urban areas (2008)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ci.html

-The population of Chile on January 1st 2010 is approximately 17,052,473

http://www.trueknowledge.com/q/chile's_population_in_2010

0-14 years: 23.2% (male 1,966,017/female 1,877,963)

15-64 years: 67.8% (male 5,625,963/female 5,628,146)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ci.html

-Chileans also use networking sites to blog about social problems, like when 80 prisoners died and 20 got seriously injured when their cell block caught on fire.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/12/19/chile-prison-fire-sparks-debate-on-social-networking-sites/

Social Networking Sites Show Destruction in Chile

But, social networking has a negative side

-A sexual awakening is happening through a booming industry for 18-and-under parties, an explosion of Internet connectivity and through Web sites like Fotolog, where young people trade suggestive photos of each other and organize weekend parties, some of which have drawn more than 4,500 teenagers. The online networks have emboldened teenagers to express themselves in ways that were never customary in Chile’s conservative society.

-Chilean society was shaken last year when a video of a 14-year-old girl eagerly performing oral sex on a teenage boy on a Santiago park bench was discovered on a video-hosting Web site.
-Chile has become Latin American’s biggest per-capita consumer of digital technology, including cellphones, cable television and Internet broadband accounts.
-Chileans are plugged into the Internet at higher rates than other South Americans, and the highest use is among children ages 6 to 17. Therein lies a central factor in the country’s newfound sexual exploration.
-Party promoters use Fotolog, as well as MSN Messenger, to organize their weekend gatherings, inviting Fotolog stars — the site’s most popular users, based on the number of comments they get.

-Fotolog is a photo-sharing network created in the United States, took off in the last two years in Chile. The country has 4.8 million Fotolog accounts, more than any other country. Children ages 12 to 17 hold more than 60 percent of the accounts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/world/americas/13chile.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1