June 18th, 2009
Facebook launches in Persian to support communications around events in Iran
Facebook tonight has released a test version of its site available in Persian. The social network claims that amidst this week’s Twitter use for communication around events in Iran, its users were sharing content in Persian, however the site navigation was only available in English. This change will make it so that “Persian speakers inside of Iran and around the world can begin using it in their native language.
According to the company’s announcement:
Persian was already in translation before worldwide attention turned to the Iranian elections, but because of the sudden increase in activity we decided to launch it sooner than planned. This means that the translation isn’t perfect, but we felt it was important to help more people communicate rather than wait.
The language translation is now live, according to Facebook, and those users with browsers set to Persian will automatically be directed to the translated test version. Users also have the ability to change their settings on Facebook under the “language’ tab to read the site only in Persian.
Facebook stresses this is, indeed, a test version and suggests anyone having corrections or suggestions do so through the translations application.
This announcement by Facebook comes on the heels of a week in which social network communications, primarily through Twitter, became critical during the disputed Iran election. Twitter even rescheduled maintenance set for Monday afternoon to ensure that the site did not experience disruption during daylight hours in Iran.
Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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