Institute For The Future

Facebook launches Swahili version

Facebook launches a Swahili version. From the short article found on the BBC site, appears as though Swahili scholars created the Swahili version outside of Facebook, out of a desire to preserve the Swahili language. Young people, in Kenya at least, are speaking more and more english. All my cosmopolitan Kenyan friends can be found on the English language version of Facebook, but tend to post in a mix of Swahili and English. This version of Facebook will most likely be highly used in Tanzania, where Swahili is the main language spoken.

The site has been up and running for a while now, and 60% of Facebook users in Swahili speaking world are using this version.