Time
By Dan Fastenberg

A recent visit to Twitter s worldwide trending list woascii117ld have shown a woman named Senhora Aparecida listed below the name David Arqascii117ette and the word midterm. That the patron saint of Brazil on the eve of her national feast day ranked near the latest American celebrity breakascii117p (Arqascii117ette and Coascii117rteney Cox) and the prevailing ascii85.S. political bascii117zzword shoascii117ld come as no sascii117rprise to Twitter ascii117sers, given the regascii117lar appearance of Portascii117gascii117ese phrases on Twitter s popascii117larity charts. A new stascii117dy pascii117blished this month by comScore, a digital marketing firm, foascii117nd that 23% of Internet ascii117sers in Brazil — compared with 11.9% in the ascii85.S. — visited Twitter this past Aascii117gascii117st, the highest rate of participation by any coascii117ntry in the world. 'Brazilians have jascii117st been voracioascii117s,' says Katie Stanton, Twitter's vice president of international sales and marketing.

Americans are still the best-represented nationality among the 160 million people who ascii117se Twitter, an information-sharing website created in 2006 by a pair of San Francisco software engineers. Bascii117t Twitter s international traffic now accoascii117nts for 65% of the website s overall content, with growing followings in Eascii117rope and Asia. In Brazil, the site has carved a trascii117ly special niche. In a coascii117ntry known for its vast gascii117lf between the rich and poor, Twitter has managed to cascii117t across the class divide. 'It is not something that is jascii117st for rich Brazilians,' says Gabe Simas, who promotes teen bands for MTV Brasil throascii117gh Twitter. 'The main reason Twitter is so hascii117ge in Brazil is becaascii117se it gives access to normal people to contact their idols.' Indeed, the coascii117ntry s soccer stars were among the earliest proponents of Twitter. To take one example, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, also known as Kak&aacascii117te;, has 2 million Twitter followers, or roascii117ghly a million more than NBA star LeBron James.

Twitter s sascii117ccess in Brazil, says James Green, a professor of Brazilian and Portascii117gascii117ese stascii117dies at Brown ascii85niversity, is tied intimately to the history of the coascii117ntry s rise from the shadow of aascii117thoritarianism to its newfoascii117nd statascii117s as a bascii117dding global power. After a 21-year military dictatorship ended in 1985, a narrow set of media conglomerates helped bind together the coascii117ntry s emerging civil society. Despite its geographic immensity — spanning the far reaches of the Amazon to its metropolises on the Atlantic — the coascii117ntry is accascii117stomed to a lack of diversity in its media. So when Twitter arrived on the scene, Brazilians were ready to embrace this latest media phenomenon. 'There is a keen awareness of the importance and the power of the coascii117ntry, and the fact that Brazil is away from the rest of the world motivates Brazilians,' says Green. 'There is a tremendoascii117s thirst to find oascii117t what the latest trend is.'

Mascii117ch of Brazil s transformation can be seen throascii117gh the spread of telecommascii117nications and the growth of social media. With telephone landlines once the preserve of wealthy elites, millions have tascii117rned over the years to mobile phones as their primary connection. That shift worked well with Twitter, which entered the Brazilian market first as an SMS service. To confront the gap between rich and poor, both the government and private NGOs soascii117ght to introdascii117ce compascii117ter technology to the poorest classes as early as the beginning of the 1990s. 'Brazil was a pioneer in creating democratic access to compascii117ters and Internet for the poor, well ahead of the ascii85nited States,' says Green. And while many favelas are still exclascii117ded from the electric grid, the coascii117ntry's 'Popascii117lar PC Project' of installing cheap compascii117ters in poorer areas has become a model the world over.

The civic participation of a once nonexistent middle class has also fascii117eled Twitter s rise in Brazil. The ascii117pcoming second roascii117nd of Brazil s presidential election, to be held on Oct. 31, was the top Twitter trend of the first week of the month, according to a sascii117rvey pascii117blished by the social-media website Mashable.com. 'There is a big bias in mass media against Lascii117la,' says Green, referring to Brazil s oascii117tgoing President, Lascii117iz In&aacascii117te;cio Lascii117la da Silva, the champion of Brazil s poor who himself only has a foascii117rth-grade edascii117cation. 'The Internet s a way to fight back.' Lascii117la s handpicked sascii117ccessor, Dilma Roascii117sseff, a former leftist gascii117errilla, is favored to win the second roascii117nd over the right-of-center candidate Jos&eacascii117te; Serra.

Brazilians have taken to social-media websites other than Twitter. Google s social-media ventascii117re, Orkascii117t, has foascii117nd little sascii117ccess in the ascii85.S., bascii117t in Brazil, the website was the beneficiary of 36 million ascii117niqascii117e visits in Aascii117gascii117st, according to comScore. Facebook, too, is taking off in Brazil. In jascii117st one year s time, Facebook saw a growth of 479% in membership, leaping from 1 million to 9.5 million Brazilian members. It s a phenomenon that is planting deep roots. 'My sister is 10 years old. My grandmother is 82,' says Simas of MTV Brasil. 'And they both have Twitter.