In How Many Languages Can You Say Facebook?

August 14th, 2008

The social networking site Facebook has surpassed its’ rival MySpace globally thanks in large part to tools that allow users to translate their own content into many languages. Of Facebook’s 132 million users, nearly 63% are outside North America. The site, which had been translated into 20 languages including French, Spanish, and Mandarin, has recently added 69 more. “Now, through translations, we are seeing a lot of growth in international countries,” says Javier Olivan, international manager at Facebook in a recent interview. Although Facebook has focused on translating tools, it isn’t ruling out opening local bureaus (like MySpace) to help make the site more culturally relevant—and to sell ads. But executives aren’t convinced that new offices are necessary. Once there are users, the thinking goes, advertisers will follow. “The platform is open, and as soon as advertisers find value they just start creating campaigns,” says Olivan. “So it is pretty much universal.” C’est une bonne idee! (more…)

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