Twitter on March 6 added Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi and Urdu to the growing list of languages available at the popular one-to-many text messaging service used by Arab Spring protesters. "Twitter is now available in right-to-left languages," the San Francisco-based firm said in a blog post, crediting the accomplishment to thousands of volunteer translators who began working on the project in late January.
The roster of those who donated time to localize Twitter.com included a Saudi blogger, Egyptian college students, technology professionals in Iran and Pakistan, and co-founders of a grassroots LetsTweetArabic campaign.
With the additions, Twitter is available in 28 languages.
Twitter has enjoyed explosive growth since it was founded in 2006 but its success in translating popularity to profit remains unclear.
The free service lets users broadcast short text messages, with options of including links to pictures or websites, using mobile phones. Messages, referred to as "tweets," can also be sent or seen at the company's website Twitter.com.