SOURCE: hi5

September 25, 2008 09:03 ET

hi5 First Major Site to Launch Language Translation Service on OpenSocial v0.8

Third-Party Developers Can Now Localize Applications for Users Around the World -- in Multiple Languages and Dialects

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - September 25, 2008) - hi5 Networks, one of the world's largest and fastest-growing social networks, today announced the availability of a language translation tool fully compliant with the recently released OpenSocial v0.8 standard. This translation tool, available immediately, allows users around the globe to enjoy a more seamlessly localized experience -- interacting in their preferred language not only on hi5.com but when using third-party applications available through the hi5 Platform as well.

For third-party developers, hi5's OpenSocial translation capabilities offer un-precedented access to resources for localizing their applications. Beyond providing an efficient language translation tool, developers can leverage hi5's international community of both professional and "crowdsourced" translators -- enabling rapid translation to a wide range of global languages. Furthermore, any internationalized application that conforms to the OpenSocial v0.8 standard can be immediately deployed on any website that supports OpenSocial, saving time, money, code and now translation costs.

"The availability of OpenSocial translation services on hi5 lets third-party developers easily create localized, in-language applications for millions of users around the world, increasing adoption and awareness for many companies," said Akash Garg, CTO and co-founder of hi5. "hi5's users also benefit because more of the applications and widgets on hi5 will be available in their preferred language."

hi5 is the first major social network to offer translation tools through the OpenSocial standard. The move furthers the company's goal of bringing people closer together with the most localized and culturally relevant social networking experience. This initiative, combined with the introduction of hi5's community-driven translation program announced earlier this year, provides users with a sense of collaboration, ownership and involvement within the hi5 community, as well as the ability to localize their online experience.

"Offering in-language versions of our applications is a key driver of user adoption," said Jia Shen, CTO and co-founder from RockYou. "hi5's OpenSocial translation tool lets us leverage the community, as well as the OpenSocial platform, to accelerate translation of our most popular apps into a wide variety of languages."

"As the leading music provider on hi5, we're excited to know that hi5's crowdsourcing service would expand iLike's reach internationally, helping music spread among fans from different languages, geographies and cultures," said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike.

In addition to localization leadership, hi5 continues to be a pivotal member of the OpenSocial community, hosting close to 2,000 applications, capturing over 68% adoption of users with one or more applications, and experiencing more than 72 million total application installs.

About hi5 Networks

Headquartered in San Francisco, hi5 is one of the world's largest and fastest growing social networks and mobile web networks. Our focus is to empower our users to build and maintain connections between friends and family online. With over 56 million unique visitors every month, hi5 is a top 20 website globally and the number one social network in 31 countries across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The service is available in 27 languages, delivering localized content and applications to users worldwide.