• by Amanda , February 10, 2008

After some fairly dicey moves lately, Facebook has won me over (again) by launching a Spanish-language version of the site.

While I will not be using the Spanish-language version (my understanding of Spanish is still pretty elementary), I believe that extending the reach of Facebook to Spanish-speakers in and outside of the United States is not only a good business move, but a good cultural one as well.

We have seen lately what power Facebook has in uniting its users. Recently, students have become much more involved with politics through the use of Facebook applications and news feeds relating to election and candidate information. I believe having this resource for Spanish-speaking users would not only unite their community, but provide another forum for Spanish-speakers to voice their concerns and opinions on topics relevant to them.

It is my hope that Facebook will be integrating its Spanish and English-language versions – though I am unsure whether this will happen, or if it is possible. By uniting the sites users could maintain their home/profile pages in a language comfortable to them, but communicate with users who speak other languages as well. I personally have several friends who participated in exchange programs in high school and in college who have never joined Facebook because their understanding of English was not strong enough. These students would be able to enjoy the networking that Facebook provides with all of their friends internationally. As I understand it, Facebook has plans to create other versions of their site as well – all I have to say is, the sooner the better.

I do have some questions about the functionality of the site. Most importantly, will users from the English “version” be able to network with users from the Spanish “version,” and vice versa? Will I be able to search similar interests with my Spanish-speaking counterparts – e.g. if I want to find out if anyone else has Midnight’s Children as their favorite book, will Spanish and English-speaking Facebook members come up in my searches? Will Facebook accommodate for differences in dialects?