David Chitel is a pioneer in the bilingual/bicultural Hispanic media and entertainment space. Preferring the term "New Generation Latino," or NGL, Chitel has launched several companies targeting this demographic over the last 12 years, including the first Latino social network, the first Latino animated TV series, and an agency dedicated to helping Fortune 500 companies reach young Latinos through live events, magazines, the Internet, and college campus marketing.

If we are to be effective in reaching a demographic for its potentially great resource as consumers, it is important to focus on other strategies besides just the tactics of how to be efficient. I believe that a deep understanding of not just the group trends as consumers, but also of the realities of its members as human beings, is the key to becoming an agent of change. Not that I want to predicate my political or sociological views here, but I think that by doing so, marketers could have the added benefit of tapping into the economic potential of …

My digital existence will have to undergo a serious change. Last Sunday, my Abuela casually commented on pictures she saw of my nephews on "El Facebook." I was barely able to contain my surprise. Many of my non-Hispanic friends had told me about this very thing and how it affected their social media experience. Strange as it may sound, I thought I was off the hook, thanks to the proverbial Hispanic "digital divide."

Now that we are well into the New Year, I thought it would be worthwhile to provide an update on the state of the Hispanic online market. Overall, the market continues to be rich and vibrant and the data points to a clear opportunity for online marketers in 2012.

We hear the term "multicultural" a lot. Marketers, academics, and industry leaders love to talk about multicultural groups and the growth of America's multicultural population - the various minority groups, including Hispanic, African-American, Asian, and "other" (Middle Eastern, European, South Asian, etc.) that are rapidly expanding in size and influence. As a marketer, I've always grappled with the question of whether this is an actual segment or just convenient nomenclature, created by corporate America to neatly package what would otherwise be very distinct groups of individuals.