Lancio Antonio Rios grew up on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio and went on to graduate with a Bachelor’s of Education at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Lance’s long-time interest in Latino cultures and communities spiked when he accepted an internship in the South Bronx in New York City. After witnessing the diversity of the Latino culture in the area, he decided that moving to New York would be more beneficial. He has finessed many talents through working in Spanish-language media and has recently developed a Facebook fan page called Being Latino. Since May, Being Latino has experienced tremendous and exponential growth with support from Latinos who care about discussing history, culture and social issues. Since its conception, Being Latino has already harnessed over 24,000 fans.
Where can we find you online?
All social networking platforms.
http://www.facebook.com/beinglatino
http://www.twitter.com/beinglatino
http://www.youtube.com/beinglatino
http://beinglatino.wordpress.com/
What inspired you to start beinglatino?
This has been needed for some time now. With social media taking off so quickly and Latinos over-indexing in growth, it just made sense.
You created a big following with Being Latino on Facebook, do you think that will translate into a website?
It’s all in the works!
What are your plans for Being Latino? What is the mission?
Being Latino is a communication platform designed to educate, entertain and connect all peoples across the global Latino spectrum. Our aim is to break down barriers and foster unity and empowerment through informative, thought-provoking dialogue and exchanging of ideas. Being Latino seeks to give a unified voice to the multitude of communities that identify with the multidimensional culture that is Latino.
Being Latino is a communication platform, therefore a blog will take up a portion. Because Latinos are so opinionated, the website will be open ended for people to engage in conversation and encourage debate.
We read a tweet on @lancerios that you were in the development stages of creating the blog site for Being Latino? How is that going? When is the launchdate?
The creation of Being Latino will be a website rather than a blog. The potential for this is limitless therefore a blog will be a core part but it will be much more. Launch date is scheduled for 3Q10.
What’s missing in the Latino Blogosphere and will we find it in 2010?
It’s ever-moving and ever-changing. We will never be able to pinpoint it exactly, the best we can do is keep up and constantly be changing.
What have you learned about building a community that you can share with other bloggers?
I’ve learned that I’d rather have an all-inclusive place for Latinos to blog rather than only giving my personal views. This community is extremely political and having a “blog” per se subjects yourself to having to deal with politics unnecessarily rather than having a great product that will grow because of it’s content rather than because of who you are friends with.
What social media will you use to spread the word about Beinglatino this year? Will you let go of any social media that haven’t worked for you?
I feel that Buzz will be a concentration point. In compliment with Wave, I think that this has the potential to catapult Being Latino to an entirely other level.
What is the most important part of blogging for you as blogger and as a reader?
Put blogs out there and leave them open-ended. Blogging as an expert and telling people what they need to do rather than offering a suggesting and requesting feedback is not our angle. We want to hear everyone’s POV.
What is your blog process? Take us through your step-by-step of how a
“bill becomes a law” when it comes to one of your blog post and what steps
you take after you’ve posted.
The blogging process is run by the blog editing manager, Efrain Nieves. He has the formula for success.
What are your favorite blogs?
I read them all. I don’t limit myself to Latino-based blogs. I love tech blogs such as Mashable, AllFacebook and Shelly Palmer.
Any final words, advice for up and coming Latino bloggers…and for the veteran Latino bloggers?
Be open and don’t look at other bloggers as competition. To truly move forward the competitive edge shouldn’t be amongst other Latinos but against the bigger non-Latino blogs. To reach those high levels you MUST put yourself on the same playing field.
