More than half of adults in P.R. have a Facebook page.

45% of island’s adults rely on Google for their weekly online searches

A whopping 55% of Puerto Ricans have a Facebook page and 45% visit Google in a given week, according to the latest CARIBBEAN BUSINESS/WOSO Radio/Gaither International weekly poll. Both sites attract younger, wealthier and educated Puerto Ricans, survey results showed. Gauging Puerto Ricans’ online-usage habits, the poll, conducted in March, consisted of 600 face-to-face interviews of an islandwide representative sample of adults.

Who has a Facebook page?

Facebook has yet to make an impression on users ages 55 and older since only 15% of them have a page on that social network. Meanwhile, a considerable 85% of Puerto Ricans ages 18 to 34 have an active Facebook page, as do 57% of those 35 to 54.

Education and income seem to determine who has a Facebook page. The higher the level of education and wealth of respondents, the likelier they are to have a page on that social network.

In fact, 71% of respondents who attended college have a Facebook page. Less than half (44%) of high-school graduates and just 25% of those that didn’t graduate high school have a Facebook page.

“Even though differences by socioeconomic level weren’t as distinct as education, 65% of those with high-socioeconomic backgrounds have a page on the social site, as do 58% and 46% of those with mid- and low-socioeconomic backgrounds, respectively,” noted Beatriz Castro, syndicated research analyst for Gaither International. She added that women (59%) are more likely than men (53%) to have a Facebook page.

Who ‘Googles’?

Castro added that demographic differences among Google users are similar to those who have Facebook pages, “which led us to assume that many Facebook site-goers also are Google users.”

Similar to Facebook, the older-demographic segment has yet to use the search-engine site. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Puerto Ricans ages 18 to 34, and 44% of those 35 to 54 actively use Google during a typical week, but usage drops significantly, to 13%, for those ages 55+.

“In contrast, while 85% of those in the younger segment [ages 18-34] have a Facebook page, only 68% use Google in a typical week, a 17-percentage-point difference,” the Gaither analyst said. Education and socioeconomic background, she noted, also seem to influence respondents’ use of Google. “While 61% of the college-educated use the search engine, just 32% of high-school graduates and 14% who didn’t graduate do so.”
While 59% of those with higher-economic means log into Google, only 45% and 34% of those with middle and low incomes, respectively, do so. However, a similar 45% of men and women use Google on a weekly basis.

Online frequency

Although indicating a growing trend, only 29% of Puerto Rican adults access Facebook every day, and 21% rely on Google for their daily searches.
Weekly online use among Puerto Ricans outpaces daily online usage, with almost half of the adults accessing Facebook at least once a week. Just 5% of those polled access the social site four to five times a week, 9% two to three times weekly, and 4% at least once a week.

Only 8% of respondents access the site less frequently: 3% at least once a month and 5% even more sporadically.

As mentioned 24% of Puerto Rican adults use Google in a typical week, while, which breaks down to 7% four to five times weekly, 12% two to three times weekly, and 5% at least once weekly.

Facebook vs. Google

From a marketing standpoint, although the Google search engine and Facebook social-media site aren’t considered direct competitors, both are online sources that companies use to reach their target audiences. Both sites attract similar traffic—mostly educated, wealthier and younger people.
In the mainland U.S., Google averages about 145 million unique visitors a month, while Facebook attracts some 128 million, with the gap between them continuing to shrink compared to a year ago. A Gallup Inc. poll showed 60% of adults in the States use Google in a typical week, compared with 43% who have a Facebook page.

“Surprisingly, here in Puerto Rico, 24% of residents use Google in a given week, showing a 15-percentage-point difference compared to their stateside counterparts. The opposite is true for Facebook. While 55% of Puerto Ricans visit their Facebook page every week, only 43% do so in the States, a 12-percentage-point difference,” Castro added.

The results, she said, are quite revealing considering Puerto Rico’s home-Internet penetration still is significantly lower than the U.S. mainland’s and both markets have similar percentages of  usage.

Google and Facebook are reaching a significant percentage of the target audiences their advertisers want to reach: the young, well-educated and wealthy.

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