Tiago Bianchi
Research expert covering internet & gaming in Latin America and Spain
Get in touch with us nowMore than networks of friends
Social networks quickly became more than a way to maintain and make friends. This medium has also facilitated connections between the public and their favorite celebrities, media outlets and even brands. Colombian music artist Shakira or soccer star James Rodríguez, for example, have accumulated approximately 52 million and 18.7 million followers on Twitter, respectively, from all over the world. In addition to staying in touch with their customers, brands have also found a highly powerful and sometimes cost-efficient marketing tool in social media, allowing them to promote their products and services targeting specific audiences. In Colombia, Bogota’s mass transit system TransMilenio and national airline Avianca have amassed such a large number of followers that they have become the most popular Colombian brands on Twitter.The era of influencers
Famous people and companies are not the only ones who have taken advantage of these virtual spaces. Ordinary individuals have also gained notoriety through this medium, some even becoming influencers within their communities. As of June 2020, Colombia was the fourth Latin American country with the largest number of Instagram influencers, the majority of which were nano-influencers, with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. Other video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, or more recently TikTok, are also widely used by Colombian influencers. YouTuber Amara Que Linda, for instance, successfully established her fan base on YouTube and was able to replicate her fame on TikTok, going as far as to reach the category of mega influencer in the micro-video app.
