LATIN AMERICANS, it seems, have swiftly become addicted to social networking, with users spending ten hours a month (twice as much as the average in the rest of the world) on services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and, especially, Twitter, according to a study by ComScore, a consultancy, published in May. It found that five countries in the region rank in the global top ten for “engagement” (ie, hours spent per month) with social networks.
So it is not surprising that Latin American presidents have taken to tweeting with gusto. Seven of the 25 most-followed world leaders hail from the region, according to Twiplomacy, a website.
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Hugo Chávez was second only to Mr Obama as the most-followed leader before his death earlier this year. He has been replaced as the Twitteratus maximus of Latin America by the Argentine Pope Francis, who has 4m followers of his Spanish- and Portuguese-language accounts.
