Latin America: Facebook Will Reach 34% of Population by 2014

Internet use and social networking are exploding in Latin America. Internet users in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina are spending more time online than the worldwide average, and Facebook has a regional user penetration of 84% in Latin America, according to a December 2011 study by comScore.

Facebook User Growth in Latin America via eMarketerThe comScore report also revealed that the average Facebook visitor in Latin America spent 7 hours on the site in December 2011.  According to estimates by eMarketer, Facebook users will reach 207.3 million in 2014, reaching 70% of internet users and over one-third of the region’s total population.

The worldwide average for time spent online in December 2011 was 24.4 hours.  Four countries in Latin America were significantly above this average: Brazil (27 hours), Mexico and Colombia (26.7 hours) and Argentina (26.1 hours). The comScore data estimated a total of 129 million internet users across Latin America in December 2011 (ages 15+), as reported by eMarketer.