The booming use of Facebook in Latin America has recently been backed up by another development. For three months, Paraguay users can use their indigenous language, the Guarani language, in navigating the social media.
Guarani settings
For some sort of experiment to test the viability of the use of Portugal’s indigenous tongue in the social media, Facebook in this country will be modified according to Guarani settings. During the three-month period, Facebook will work on fine-tuning the site’s default system and check spelling and usage problems that may come up. Laura Gonzales, Facebook official said the Guarani version in Portugal was launched on Tuesday. She also said that this is the first time Facebook is doing an exclusive product for a particular country.
Majority number
A majority number of Paraguayans speak Guarani, which traces its roots to three versions. According to Tadeo Zarratea who teaches Guarani, the language’s three versions are traditional, academic and yopara. He pointed out that yopara is a combination of traditional Guarani and Spanish. Most speakers are said to use the traditional Guarani language especially in oral usage. However, the available version for Facebook adapts the academic spelling style as stated by Zulma Trinidad from the Guarani Language and Culture Center.
Facebook’s enormous growth
An analysis by the New Socialbakers Infographic Organization shows that the growth of Facebook has been enormous in Latin America and the Caribbean. This expansion means a lot for brands in building their impetus to penetrate social media markets. This recent findings by the New Socialbakers is another authentication that Facebook has a very strong influence that makes great impressions on businesses. Facebook is even considered to play a big role in stimulating general progress in the Latin American region.
The number of Facebook users in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown by 47% in the previous year. There are now 168 million active users on a monthly basis. In the past days, there were reports about the fast growing number of Facebook users in South America with Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela as the biggest subscribers.
Facebook use slows down in the U.S.
Socialbakers, a social media metrics analyst company says that there is a slow down of Facebook use in the United States. Nonetheless, this will not affect the network’s status as the leading social network in the world inasmuch as it has started to grow in other countries and regions such as Asia and Latin America.
In Latin America alone, an 88% rise of Facebook users took place for the past 16 months, with Brazil topping the list. In the past eight months, Facebook users in Brazil have reached 20 million, which is just one fourth of the country’s population. This implies that there is further room for growth as more Brazilian citizens are contributing to the social network’s membership. In addition to Brazil, other nations in the Latin America region such as Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia have about 35% to 45% of their population linked to the Facebook. Meanwhile in Asia, Facebook population has reached 53% with India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand as top contributors. From India’s 1.2 billion populations, only 4% are Facebook users. This is another interesting aspect that Facebook is keeping an eye on. With assertive campaigns and strategies, Facebook sees a bigger growth in India as more of this nation’s people are getting drawn to the social media.
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