Brazilians are fanatical about social networking, with 40 million of them regularly using social networking sites, according to a new Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) report on consumer technology adoption and attitudes in Brazil and Mexico. The survey of more than 6,000 people marks the introduction of Forrester’s Latin American Technographics®, which provides Market Research professionals with deep, comprehensive data and insights into how technology affects the way consumers select, purchase, use, and communicate about products and services in two of Latin America’s fastest-growing markets.

“With Latin American Technographics, we are able to offer global brands a consistent view of their customers across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and now Latin America,” said Jill Chiara, vice president, role manager, market research and data, Forrester Research. “As technology creates a more global consumer, Technographics provides market researchers with the ability to analyze their opportunities; segment their customers and prospects; track online, offline, and mobile markets; and benchmark their competition, all using a single global framework and methodology.”

Highlights from the initial Latin American Technographics survey include:

  • Broadband adoption is emerging but at different rates. While 45 percent of Brazilians connect to the Internet via broadband — 50 million metropolitan adults — Mexicans are adopting at a much slower rate. Only 28 percent of the urban Mexican population — 16 million consumers — use broadband, primarily due to lack of computer access.
  • Brazilians are more active and social. Sixty-three percent of Brazilians living in metro areas regularly use social networking sites compared with only 22 percent of online, metropolitan Mexicans.
  • The Internet remains a mystery for many offline consumers. Many consumers in these markets are still trying to understand the benefits of the Web — 66 percent of Mexicans and 44 percent of Brazilians say they aren’t online because they just don’t know enough about the Internet.

Latin American Technographics will encompass 10,000 in-person and online consumer surveys this year, across the 12 largest metropolitan areas in Brazil and the 10 largest metropolitan areas in Mexico. Technographics clients gain access to data segmented by their custom-defined target audiences. For more information, go to www.forrester.com/latamtechno.

About Consumer Technographics®

Forrester Consumer Technographics is the largest and longest-running survey of technology’s effect on consumers. Since 1997, Forrester has surveyed more than 3 million households and individuals worldwide and today provides data and insights on consumers in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Marketing and strategy professionals rely on Forrester’s Consumer Technographics data for unique insights into how technology affects the way consumers select, purchase, use, and communicate about products and services. For more information, visit www.forrester.com/consumertechno.