By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO (AA) – Black millennials dominate social media networks and mobile technology, a report from consumer research firm Nielsen released Monday revealed, illustrating that a younger generation of blacks excel at driving social change online.
According to the report, black millennials – those born between 1982 and 2000, are a “viral vanguard” that numbers around 11.5 million. The total black population is 46.3 million, or around 14 percent of the U.S. population has a general smartphone penetration rate of 91 percent.
Nielsen said a decade of economic and educational prosperity paired with the accessibility of technology has helped young blacks forge a digital racial divide that has existed since the invention of the personal computer. Nielsen estimates that black millennials have $162 billion in buying power and is 25 percent more likely than other millennial groups to claim it is among the first within social circles to try new tech gadgets.
Social change is a high priority for many young blacks, Nielsen found, and their use of mobile tech and social media reflects it. Researchers found that 38 percent of black millennials expect the brands they buy to support social causes.
"We have entered a new era whereby technology has become a great equalizer," Cheryl Grace, a senior vice president at the U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement, said in a statement about the report. “Black millennials are leading the way in their use of technology to impact change and get their voices heard.”
The surge of black voices calling for social change is of special note during an election year and, Nielsen found that black millennials are getting involved in politics in traditional and digital ways. Compared to all other demographic groups in the U.S., blacks had the highest rates of voter registration and voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election.