Facebook in Arabic

Facebook have announced that their interface is now available in Arabic. Bring on another 250m people, unless it is banned by the relevant authorities again!



Why is this important? Well, with such little Arabic content available online, this gives Arabic speakers the opportunity to converse in their own language. With all the media planned, Facebook has been smart in bringing this to market. Arabic speakers are increasingly more educated, tech savvy and forward thinking, and should be given the opportunity that other native tongues already have. Our world is already anglicised enough as it is.

Although Facebook has been accessible in English across the Middle East since it opened beyond the US college network in September 2006, its Arabic language version puts in in more direct competition with popular regional sites including Jeeran, Maktoob, ArabFriendz and Kalam Arab.

Facebook launches Arabic version

Facebook to be financed by Dubai?

According to this report, Facebook CFO Gideon Yu is in Dubai attempting to find more backers to fund the enterprise.

It seems that they have already burned through a large proportion of the US$500 million they have already raised.

Being funded by Dubai may not be a bad thing for U.A.E. Facebook users. The powers that be would find it difficult to justify banning a social network that has local connections, wouldn't they?

UPDATE: This article sheds light on Facebook's expenses and shows how easy it is to spend $500 million!

Facebook down?

Is Facebook down for anyone else today?

I checked at work, and it wasn't working. I thought they had blocked it at work again. But then I checked at home, and it's not working either. Anyone else having trouble?

Don't shoot the messenger

Finally the anticipation, the uncertainity, the drama is over. Facebook stands blocked.

Facebook - Graffiti wall application

Question: Did anyone notice the graffiti wall application on facebook is blocked by etisalat? I can see the wall but I can't draw anything. Is anyone else facing this problem?

Facebook, oh Facebook

Well well, facebook was working fine yesterday morning, but when I tried again at 5:00pm, connections to facebook were timing out.

At first I thought facebook's servers were down. But it was working fine in other parts of the world, and I could view http://static.facebook.com (but not login from there).

Does this mean it is blocked ? This is not the first time a site would be without the standard 'Site Is blocked' message. If you remember, skype.com used to be blocked like this a few years ago.

On the other hand, it could also mean that facebook's servers that serve the middle east are down - but that is unlikely ...

A little bird I know tells me an anti-islamic group on facebook has caused the offence - but this is strictly a _rumor_

I look forward to more news about this... Hopefully, Etisalat and the TRA will shed more light on this ...

EDIT: It's up ! It's up ! It's up now ....
EDIT: It's down ! Its down ! Its down again ... but at least we know it can't have been blocked.

Facebook next???

According to ArabianBusiness.com the next online community website facing a ban could be FACEBOOK!!! I can't believe such a cool site might be blocked when it is so much better and advanced than Orkut. You can always count on Gulf News to lead the pack of morality wolves. Are there all mutawwas on the board of the TRA?!

Read the article here