Group+6B


 * Hugo Chave﻿z and Twitter **

From Group 6B: Samantha Afetian, Aubree Miller, Tessa St. Marie, and Brooke Walsh



Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias has been the President of Venezuela since February of 1999. After assuming office almost twelve years ago, Venezuela has seen economic and social reform as well as changes in human rights, domestic, and foreign policy. On April 28, 2010, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela posted to his twitter account @chavezcandanga a tweet that would begin a Twitter revolution in Latin America.

**I.** Latin American Involvement **II.** Chavez's Motivations for Using Twitter **III.** How Chavez Uses Twitter **IV.** Impact on Venezuela
 * Table of Contents **


 * Background info: Latin American Involvement with Twitter **

by Brooke Walsh

Latin America has recently become one of the largest growing groups to use Twitter. There are currently 93 million Twitter users worldwide and about 15.4 million of them are now from Latin America. This number has grown 305 percent from June 2009 to June 2010- the largest surge of Twitter users throughout the world.

Venezuela has seen a sharp spike now that their President, Hugo Chavez, joined Twitter in April. ComScore reported a 4.8 percent spike in Venezuelan users in the few months after Chavez join the social media website. Chavez has even provided jobs by creating his Twitter account. He has hired 200 assistants to help him handle his account. ComScore has also released a list of the Top 20 Markets by Twitter Penetration. Of the 20 countries, there are six countries from Latin America: Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia.

Latin American has about 150 million Internet users to tap into and Twitter is not going to let that market pass by. Twitter has now begun to translate the website into other languages. This option opens the door to more possible users by breaking down a language barrier. Twitter in Latin American has shown that 72 percent of the populations are now connected to the Internet and new technologies. Twitter has also become a professional tool for about half the population, according to Tangelo. The next frontier for Latin America will be mobile use of the social media.


 * Chavez's Motivations for Using Twitter **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">by Samantha Afetian

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;"> In 2009, President Hugo Chavez had embarked on a campaign to silence any oppositional media, in true socialist fashion. After shutting down five cable <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;"> stations for refusing to air one of his speeches, an array of angry anti-Chavez groups sprung up on Facebook, while Twitter was used to organize protests and spread awareness of the issue internationally (Toor, 2010). In January 2010, Chavez publicly denounced the opposition’s so-called ‘campaign of rumors’, saying that “the use of Twitter, the internet, and text-messaging are forms of terrorism” (Herramientas, 2010). Bloggers and news sites were buzzing with negativity regarding the comment, causing his popularity to fall below 50 percent in the polls (Carroll, 2010).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">However, Chavez was not finished. In April 2010, Chavez announced that he and a group of young "communication guerrillas” would battle oppositional messages in the media and online—as one writer said, if you can’t beat ‘em, tweet ‘em! (Associated Press, 2010). He confidently declared to the media that he would wage battle online by providing information and by responding to his opposition (Gordon, 2010). Diosdado Cabello, director of Chavez’s telecommunications agency, went as far as to proclaim that Chavez would break twitter records for number of followers (Gordon, 2010).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">On April 28, 2010, Chavez posted his first tweet: “"Hey how's it going? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I'm off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!" (Associated Press, 2010). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">In less than 24 hours, Chavez’s twitter page, @chavezcandanga, had 79,000 followers (Associated Press, 2010); However, in August 2010, polls reported that Chavez’s popularity had dropped to 36 percent (Sanchez, 2010).


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 200%;">How Hugo Chavez Uses Twitter **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">by Tessa St. Marie

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">In the first two weeks of its creation, Chávez’s Twitter handle, @chavezcandanga rose to the top of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;"> Twitter elite, gaining over 200,000 followers and receiving more than 54,000 responses (Toothaker, 2010). Due to the demands from his new Twitter popularity, Chávez chose to hire 200 “Twitter aides” to help him with day-to-day Tweeting (Elliot, 2010). Since April, Chávez has posted 810 Tweets, mainly to add his personal commentary about world events or to defend the Venezuelan governmental actions. Chavez has maintained his promise by dedicating a daily portion of his Tweets to one-on-one communication with Venezuelans as well as people around the world.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">Overall, Chávez enjoys communicating with fellow Venezuelans and the rest of the world, in an intimate way, despite the mixture of criticism with praise. "Some criticize me, others insult me. I don't care," Chávez says. "[Twitter is] a form of contact with the world” (Toothaker, 2010). On November 1, 2010, Chávez celebrated his one millionth follower, making him the most popular Twitter user in Venezuela and South America﻿﻿ (Chubb, 2010).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">At time of writing, Chávez follows a mere 19 and has over 1,047,262 followers, gaining an additional 5,000 followers every day. According to www.Twitaholic.com, @chavezcandanga is the 265th most popular Twitter user, of 27 million users.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 200%;">Impact on Venezuela: Connecting people socially and politically **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">by Aubree Miller

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;"> “`The attitude [in Venezuela] is that if you don't communicate it, it didn't happen,’ said Gabriel Bastidas, a university student;” reported the Miami Herald (Wyss, 2010). Given this statement it is easy to see how Venezuela has been ranked third globally in terms of how many of its internet users sign into Twitter (AVN Press Office, 2010).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">In the past, some people of Venezuela utilized Twitter to orchestrate protests against the government. They have used facebook to create anti-Chavez pages and now the president is utilizing social media for his own use to get his point of view into the public. Whether people are following his twitter account because they are suspicious of his motives or because they are a staunch follower of the revolution, one thing is clear: the people of Venezuela want to know what their leader is up to. He uses the medium to congratulate other world leaders, admit to tearing up and to challenge his challengers and it looks like it's working for him ([|Munzenreider], 2010).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">Chavez’s twitter account has been contreversial since its creation. Some are worried he will use his account to spread socialist ideologies and rally people outside the venezuelan borders to support him and his cause, others love to hear what he has to say. However, it seems that the one aspect of Chavez’s Twitter account that really brings people together is their speculation if Chavez can limit himself to 140 words. And maybe that is the secret behind his one million followers.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 200%;">References **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Associated Press. (2010, April 29). Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez takes to Twitter. USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2010-04-28-venezuela-chavez-twitter_N.htm

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">AVN Press Office. (2010, August 17). Venezuela Among the Countries with Highest Twitter Penetration. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. http://venezuela-us.org/2010/08/17/venezuela-among-the-countries-with-highest-twitter-penetration/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Carroll, Rory. (2010, April 28). Hugo Chavez embraces Twitter to fight online ‘conspiracy’. The Gaurdian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/28/hugo-chavez-twitter-venezuela

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;"> Chubb, T. (2010, November 1). Hugo Chavez Twitter: President of Venezuela Reaches 1 Million Followers.Online Social Media. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20101101/hugo-chavez-twitter-president-of-venezuela-reaches-1-million-followers/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Elliot, A. (2010, May 21). Hugo Chavez Hires 200 People to Manage His Twitter Account.Mashable. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://mashable.com/2010/05/08/chavez-popular-twitter/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;"> Ergo, Leila. (2010, Aug 30). Tangelo. http://www.altamirano.org/social-media/twitter-latin-america/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Gordon, Sarah. (2010, April 27). Hugo Chavez to Battle His Critics on Twitter. Sky News Online. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Hugo-Chavez-Joins-Twitter-Venezuelan-President-Takes-Media-Dominance-Online-To-Battle-ritics/Article/201004415620679pos=World_News_Second_World_News_Feature_ Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15620679_Hugo_Chavez_Joins_Twitter%3A_Venezuelan_ President_Takes_Media_Dominance_Online_To_Battle_Critics

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Herramientas. (2010, Jan 26). Chávez tacha de “terrorismo” la campaña de rumores lanzada por Internet. Noticias 24. http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/noticia/141536/chavez-tacha-de-terrorismo-la-campana-de-rumores-lanzada-por-internet/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Munzenreider, Kyle. (2010, July 19). Crying Hugo Chavez Exhumes 19th-Century Corpse to prove Conspiracy Theory. http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/07/hugo_chavez_exhumes_19th_centu.php

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;"> Radwanick, Sarah. (2010, Aug 11). ComScore. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/Indonesia_Brazil_and_Venezuela_Lead_Global_Surge_in_Twitter_Usage

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Sanchez, Fabiola. (2010, Aug 25). Hugo Chavez's Popularity Hits Seven-Year Low. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/hugo-chavezs-popularity-d_n_695431.html

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Toor, Amar. (2010, Feb 4). Twitter Undermines Hugo Chavez's Media Takeover. Switched. http://www.switched.com/2010/02/04/twitter-undermines-hugo-chavezs-media-takeover/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Toothaker, C. (2010, May 8). Chavez Hires 200 To Manage His Twitter Account. The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/chavez-twitter-account-ma_n_569755.html

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px;">Wyss, Jim. (2010, September 25). In Venezuela, Online Networks Drive Politics. [|Miami Herald Article]