comScore research shows that more than 127 million online users in Latin America spent an average of 7.5 hours a month on a social networking site in April 2012.
The figures show an increase of 12% in the region from the previous year. Unsurprisingly Facebook was the leading network with over 114 million visitors in April, up 37% from 2011.
Other popular networks were Twitter with over 27 million visitors and Orkut with over 25.7 million visitors.
Tumblr was found to be the fastest growing social media site with its audience doubling in the past year with 7.2 million users.
"Not does nearly 100 percent of the Latin American Internet population visit social networking destinations each month, but they also spend a lot of time on the sites," says Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president of Latin America. "While social networking isn’t a new phenomenon, we are still seeing strong market growth, changing dynamics among the leading players, and the emergence of new social sites that make it an especially interesting market to watch right now."
Emerging social network Pinterest saw an eightfold increase in the first four months of 2012 reaching over 1 million Latin Americans by April.
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The site had only 153,000 visitors in Latin America at the beginning of 2012.
Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks allowing users to create and share photo pinboards on various themes.
The network boasts having nearly 30 million visitors worldwide.
The site was ranked No. 5 in social networking sites driving the most referral traffic, beating Google+ which ranked at No. 9.
"Even though Pinterest currently reaches just 1 percent of the regional audience, its impressive growth since the beginning of the year suggests it could quickly become a key player in Latin America’s vibrant social scene," says Fosk.
Latin America’s booming growth in social networks has brought it to the global forefront of active, socially engaged regions.
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