A commentary about chilean digital culture
“In Chile, you will see how they treat friends from abroad”[1]
This line taken from “Si vas para Chile”, one of the most popular songs in Chilean folklore and written in 1942, contains a fundamental truth to understand the evolution of our culture during the last 30 years, and even more especifically, to understand our particular digital behavior. Used inspirationally or ironically, the line still has a strong relevance to one of the most opened up economies, according to the Heritage Foundation[2]. We are a country highly globalized in the economic, having great oportunities of consuming access at an extent not even the most optimistic ones could have forseen few years ago. Being the first South American country in which the remarkable fashion brand H&M has opened a store, the first one to host the world-famous music festival Lollapalooza outside the US, and one of the markets with the greatest growth projection for Starbucks since its arrival 10 years ago, Chile is seen as a true tryout zone for the rest of the Latin American markets.
But this fenomenon goes beyond the economic aspect. We are a culture that has no restrictions when it comes to adopting what comes from abroad, especially from the US, and in that sense, we have no issues in readily embracing customs as diverse as Hallowen, ‘Cybermonday’, or having a ‘brunch’ with colleagues or friends. It is ‘cool’ to be part of these traits. Acknowledging and naturally embracing them is a symbol for cultural status. And this, the status factor, is a key concept that is worth mentioning since it is a fundamental element to explain our digital identity.
In 2013, Chilescopio[3], one of the most well-known studies on the chilean lifestyle, yielded a trend in chileans towards ‘aspirations heavily oriented to individualism and dedicated to the private sector’ and ‘purchase behavior that discreetly mixes optimization and self-indulgence’. This shows a pursuit for a sense of identity based on the acquisition of material goods having a symbolic value.
In this context, mobile technology represents the peak of success.
By now, for chileans, the least important aspect of a mobile phone is its capacity to make an actual call. Having an old-fasioned mobile, or a ‘brick’, as they are popularly known in Chile, can only be explained from the digital illiteracy point of view or even from an ideological stance against highly technological devices, but it is never an issue of access. The competitive industry of chilean telecommunications allows users to obtain a free basic smartphone when hiring a mobile phone plan. On top of that, if we consider the fact that mobile phones in Chile have the lowest costs in the region, and that the booming communication industry is constantly inviting us to ‘evolve’ and to be part of ‘the new generation’, we can easily conclude that having a mobile phone with Internet access can define the extent at which a person is techonologically in vogue in relation to the rest of the society.
This trend has escalated over year and the phenomenon of mobile web is now across all users.
The importance of being online for most chileans is closely connected to an interesting piece of information yielded by Digilats: The use of social networks is one of the highest in the region, positing Facebook as virtually universal. This phenomenon can be also explained by the evolution of behavior of chilean mobile users during the last few years, and their quick capacity for adopting global digital networks.
According to Chilescopio 2013, a noticeable trend among chileans is ‘to turn to associativity so as to be heard and achieve interests’. This fact does not sound unreasonable to any chilean in the light of the recent tragic events, which have compelled ourselves to be more supportive to each other than ever in order to move foward as a country.
The first of those events was the devastating earthquake that struck Chile in 2010, an important landmark for the use of Twitter in our country. As most electronic devices were unavailable for several days (telephone, mobile phones, desktop computers with Internet access), the rate and amount of information that could be sent and received by a 140 letter twit made this platform the most highly regarded social network among a considerable percentage of the population. The adherence to this social platform was so massive ever since that, according to the technological innovation company Simplycit[4], the number of users of such social network grew up to 190% after that fateful day of February.
To many people, this day represents the begining of a long and still-standing relationship with Twitter, becoming a platform that plays a huge role on influencing public opinion in the country. Its influence is as well respected as traditional media itself (there are many online newspapers that devote several pages to Twitter reactions to a any particular event). Also, it is has become the second screen platform used to share comments or reactions to any sport, politic or showbiz-related event.
Another events reflecting the need of being ‘online’ were the 2011 student protests. Being led mainly by high school and university students, one of the tools for coordinating and gathering was the social networks. Things such as planning meetings via WhatsApp and students committees on Facebook allowed the first social revolution in the country with the social networks at its best. These gathered thousands of people in the streets with a remarkable level of organization.
This opens up the last key point in this essay: The digital as a mechanism of citizen action.
So far, we have been discussing the relationship between chilean people and the digital world and the way they have tranversally adopted it as a social element of status and for gathering people together. But what is the role of brands in the scenario?
Our study concluded that Chile stands out for having a considerable percentage of “Digital Personas” who are characterized by seeing everything that is digital with fear and suspicion. This is due to the fact that the privacy issue, phising, identity theft and account hacking are still relevant nowadays despite all the efforts several areas (such as banks, retail companies, and fashion brands) have made in order to push foward ways to diminish such risks.
From a different point of view, Chile stands out as being one of the most ‘functional’ countries and quite concrete when it comes to relating to brands. They are consumers that turn to brands for specific purposes only (promotions, discounts, and similar instances) and not in the effort of consumering the contents produced by these brands.
This might be explained by the skepticism towards banks, drug store chains, telecommunication or retail companies that have come to the fore due to irregularities in their operation, which ultimately affects their image.
As Twitter is considered as a legitimate tool for the transmission of collective/particular discontent, we realize that chilean people are extremely jugdemental on the way they think that brands should not treat their customers, therefore, they will not hesitate to use this platform as a mechanism to defend their rights, if the standard procedure of complaining at the brand does not work.
This leads many companies to resentfully see the presentation of any idea going beyond the concrete economic benefit, fearing they might be victims of public scrutiny in social networks in the case of not meeting people’s expectations.
We started this essay by defining the chilean culture as one exceptionally prone to embrace any trait that might seem exciting and useful for their lives no matter its origin. We have also confirmed that the average chilean person adopts very quickly the use of mobile web and that he or she has made the social networks a fundamental part of their daily life. But it seems crucial to understand that the key for brands to fully be part of that booming technological side of people’s lives lays upon accurately adapting their digital behavior to precisely those things that the chilean consumer needs/shares/longs for. We are facing well-informed and critic consumers, but also consumers who are eager to look for elements that foster their identity and aspirations. The only way to be part of their world is through helping them build it, define it and developt it into the future.