Gefällt dir my latest Facebook post? Or do you want to compartir your photos with amigos around the world? There’s no doubt social media use is a worldwide phenomenon, but it’s not always as uniform as you might expect.

Like OK and Coca-Cola, Facebook and Twitter are among those words that are understood all over the (computer-literate) world. But there are still subtle differences. “Like”-ing everything from businesses to photo albums may be part of our culture now, but Germans click on “gefällt mir ” while Romanians choose “imi place” and Danes "synes godt om".  It’s the same meaning, but perhaps a little less snappy.

But does it matter whether I “like” or “me gusta” a page?  According to a study by online translation portal Bab.la, it does. They analysed the proportion of users who liked their page in multiple languages.  They found that Russian, Japanese and Portuguese speakers were far more likely to click on the button, whereas Swedish and Dutch speakers were more discerning with their likes.

They didn’t have a definitive explanation, but suggested social media use varies between cultures.  Early adopters of the technology seem to be more likely to “like” pages. And since Russia, Japan and Brazil have strong, home-grown social networks, those who choose to use Facebook might have a greater interest in foreign languages and cultures (so would “like” a translation portal).

Facebook has also been credited with turning the noun “friend” into a verb. But that’s just in English. The Académie Français will be relieved to know users still prefer to say Elle m'a ajouté comme ami sur facebook. And the less sociable “unfriend” seems to have got lost in translation.

Twitter is also a worldwide phenomonen, but lags behind Facebook in the number of languages it is translated into. (Facebook’s 97 languages include Pirate English, Esperanto and Latin, so you can keep up with your “mateys” or any amici from Ancient Rome.)

A study at the Palo Alto Research Center, California, found cross-language differences in Twitter use. They analysed 62 million tweets in 104 languages. German and French tweets were twice as likely to contain links as Japanese and Portuguese ones. Germans used hashtags in 18 per cent of tweets, while in Japan, the figure was just 5 per cent. While Japanese users often used English hashtags, the top five in Korea were all in the native language.

Their conclusions? German users prefer to use Twitter for sharing information, while Korean and Malay speakers use it more for conversation. Another University of Amsterdam study found Indonesian and Dutch speakers were more likely to mention other users, while Spanish and Japanese tweets were more likely to be part of conversations.

This might seem confusing if you’re thinking of translating your Twitter or Facebook feeds into multiple languages. But it’s definitely worth considering. Almost half of all tweets are now in languages other than English, yet most international companies don’t bother with multilingual social media use.

As we’ve said before, never underestimate the power of local knowledge! Native-speaking translators or local social media managers can navigate the nuances of your target countries, and ensure you get the language and cultural references right.

tags: Foreign Language Internet, multilingual social networks, social media use