Speaking Same Language Bilingual Web Sites Target Young Hispanics

MYSPACE WILL REMAIN a market leader among all demographics for some time, but newly launched or revamped social networking sites for 2nd- and 3rd-generation Latinos are trying to narrow the gap. Usage will overlap undoubtedly, but that has not stopped new portals from moving forward to lure U.S.-born Hispanics, ages 12 to 34, whose preferred language is English but who still straddle their Latino roots.

For young Hispanics, there are plenty of choices such as Batanga, newcomer elHood, MiGente, VozLatina and ZonaZoom, which says it will offer more sophisticated social networking tools when it debuts at the end of the month.

San Francisco-based LatinosConnected launched in early December to help Hispanics, ages 16 to 35, connect with peers to share their Latino experience, be it good or bad, said founder Veronica Alvarez.

“MySpace is a great community and a great success story of the evolution of online communities,” said the former Yahoo! manager,...