Chile's Facebook culture

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A study done in 2012 showed that only 29 percent of Chileans between the ages of 16 and 29 claimed to have not voted in the last presidential election. (This is in contrast to Chileans over 30 years of age participating.)
Yet, in that same survey, 24 percent of 16-29-year-old-Chileans claimed to have participated in a political protest. (Where as 30+-year-old Chileans came in at a mere 6 percent.) [1] This is the larges percentage gap in age in all of south America, according to the results of this data. This shows that younger generations (Generation X and millennial) are more willing and likely to protest publicly than to actively voice their vote. In looking at the statistics of both the popularity of Facebook,(which is mainly used by younger generations, and the drastic preference and ability for younger Chilean generations to congregate in protest, I argue that these two statistics are coordinated. The majority of these protests were organized through social media, specifically the two most popular platforms in Chile, Facebook and Twitter. In this day and age, with the rise of the Internet and social media especially, younger generational students now have a way to communicate and digitally congregate as a whole, in a place separate from older generations. Social media allows anyone with an opinion or argument a voice to speak to the public without any regulations or limitations that earlier generations face such as access to broadcasting equipment and station approval, or government regulation and censorship or anti-government speech. According to a recent study which surveyed Chilean Adolescents ages 13 to 17, 64 percent of then spent more than oner hour a day on Facebook "I used to see the local news in my city, but now that I moved to Santiago for my university degree I usually seek for news on Internet or sometimes I'm told by my relatives"
- Anna G., University Student from Antofagasta

Education is a very hot topic in Chile today. Since 2011, protests have occurred in the country’s capitol, Santiago, and frequently turned violent as your civilians march in the streets protesting against the for-profit educational system. Most recently, in December of 2015, the Chilean government of President Michelle Bachelet passed a bill allowing grants for under-privileged students. The bill would be active for one year. Many were unsatisfied, though, saying that these sorts of grants were not the same as ‘free education for all,’ and thinking that the government is acting too slowly to fix the discriminatory problem.

In September, 2016, Chile was hit with a magnitude 8.3 earthquake, killing 14 and severely damaging. The devastation received world-wide news coverage, especially from CNN. Chile, which is fairly susceptible to earthquakes, quickly responded, making the devastation not as bad as it could have possible been. Facebook initiated their emergency feature where those in Chile during the Earthquake could confirm themselves as ‘safe’ to other Facebook friends and family. [2]

﷯ Coca Cola Chile recently began a new initiative in 2014 to encourage customer-company dialogue, where they can receive comments and feedback to better improve their products, but also create a friendly fun relationship with it's Chilean customers and keep their pro9duct exciting and relevant. To do this, they are tapping into Chileans active use of social media. The company hired cute, friendly 22-year-old Benjamin Medina to be the face of the company's social media. The concept is that this young guy in charge of the companies social media, and will directly interact with customers who interact with the page. The campaign refers to him as "vicepresidente" of the company, and photographs him wearing a bright Coca Cola teeshirt, sitting in a whimsical office surrounded by coca cola memorabilia. [2] This is an example of how advertisers are tapping into the digital front of social media, and encouraging Chilean's to become active too, to be able to participate in these sorts of franchises.

This shift in primary medium of advertisement seems to be part of a larger trend that is happening on a global scale. While television is still the most popular medium for advertisers in Latin America, accounting for 50 percent to 65 percent of the market share.[3] As Internet access is becoming more of a common resource, advertisers are reacting to the rapidly growing shift by investing more money into online advertisements than print or outdoor (billboard) ads.

"Vicepresidente" Benjamin Medina is the face of Coca Cola Chile's social media. [17]

The growing spending put into chile's digital advertising as Internet access and popularity are rapidly growing in the country. [3]