The higher rate of online engagement reflects a greater belief in social media's capacity for spreading awareness about social issues and causes. 58 percent of African-Americans and 51 percent of Hispanics surveyed said social networks are effective means for getting the word out about important issues, compared to just 34 percent of Caucasians. In keeping with this attitude, Hispanics and African-Americans are also more likely than Caucasians to turn to social media for additional information about issues and causes that matter to them (31 percent and 27 percent, compared to 21 percent, respectively).
By the same token there is some skepticism about online activism that social media makes it easy to express support for causes in a hollow, superficial way which doesn't ultimately translate into real action.
On that note, a good number of Hispanics believe that people "like" causes on Facebook without really caring about them, and a large proportion of all three groups said they feel that email about social causes sometimes feels like SPAM (76 percent of Caucasians, 69 percent of Hispanics, and 66 percent of African-Americans). 48 percent of Caucasians and 51 percent of Hispanics also say they get too many emails about causes, compared to 33 percent of African-Americans.
Source: MediaPost, “Minority Groups More Likely to Support Online Causes,” May 31, 2011