Venezuela ranks third globally in terms of how many of its Internet users sign on to Twitter, coming in after only Indonesia and Brazil, reported the website La Red. In Venezuela’s case, the number of users of the social network has increased since President Hugo Chávez starting using Twitter.
ComScore, a firm which measures Internet traffic, released a report on the Twitter’s global penetration, with data corresponding to last June. During that month, Indonesia was the country with the highest penetration index, with 20.8 percent of Internet users connected to Twitter, followed by Brazil with 20.5 percent, and Venezuela with 19 percent.
The report published by ComScore noted that the fact that the Venezuelan president had decided to join Twitter in April 2010 helped lead to a 4.8 increase in the penetration of the social network.
President Chávez’s Twitter account has over 740,000 followers, after gaining a reputation for becoming a way to appeal directly to the Venezuelan leader, reported an article published by The Guardian. About 2,000 followers join daily @chavezcandanga, according to British the newspaper.
“Social networks are a weapon that also have to be used by the revolution,” said President Chávez recently in his weekly TV and radio show Aló Presidente.
Besides Brazil and Venezuela, other Latin American countries that register a high Twitter penetration index amongst Internet users are Mexico (13.4 percent), Chile (13.2 percent), Argentina (10.5 percent), and Colombia (9.6 percent). All of those are also among the 20 countries where the use of Twitter has grown the fastest.
The Venezuelan president launched his Twitter account in April, and by June managed to break records in Venezuela by gaining over 500,000 followers. “There are a lot of presidents who use Twitter, but the case of Venezuela is unusual,” said Dom Sagolla, co-creator of Twitter, in a summit in Costa Rica.
In Venezuela the use of Internet is a matter of national interest. The Infocenters, community spaces equipped with computers connected to the Internet where users are allowed to access information technologies for free, are one of the achievements of the Venezuelan government. Through March 2010, 668 Infocenters had been created throughout the country, with more planned throughout the remainder of 2010.
AVN/ Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / August 17, 2010
