Facebook is set to take off in the Arabic-speaking world now that it is available in Arabic.  More than 900,000 Egyptians were members of the site before the new version was introduced and that number is expected to grow.  Fifty million Arabic speakers are online, although only 5% of global web content is Arabic.

Because Arabic is written from right to left, Facebook also had to change page layouts, labels, buttons, etc.  To see what your Facebook page looks like in Arabic, scroll down to the bottom of your home page and change your language option.

Young Egyptians have used Facebook to organize political groups and mobilize, often against a government that restricts freedom of speech and the right to assemble.   Facebook was already the third most popular website in Egypt before the Arabic version was developed.   It will be interesting to see if  young Arabs will use social networks to create political movements.

Photo by Ross Day. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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