Thursday June 26 marked the beginning of the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar as Ramadan, the month of fasting and Twitter has added new Arabic language capabilities for hashtags. Twitter estimates that people sent more than 74.2 million Tweets about Ramadan from around the world last year.
In honor of the celebrations Twitter has added new hashtags to help people share their thoughts and observances. According to a blog post on Twitter:
There are many religious and cultural practices to mark the month, and we are pleased to help people celebrate with new #Ramadan and #Eid icons. Use a hashtag (#) immediately in front of the words Ramadan, Ramazan, and رمضان. For Eid, use a hashtag (#) in front of the words Eid or عيد_مبارك. These special icons will appear after those words. Use hashtags to tweet how your neighborhood, city or country is celebrating the month and connect with others across the world who are also observing and celebrating #Ramadan.
Twitter has also posted an interactive map showing the global conversations that took place last year. It highlights some of the key words that people posted around the world and it is fascinating to watch the posts as they cover the globe. (You can find the map here.)
Twitter has also partnered with @AlArabiya to help people find out what time each day you can break the fast.
We partnered with @AlArabiya to help you find out, with a Tweet, what time each day you can break the fast. Starting tomorrow, tweet @AlArabiya with #iftar followed by the name of your city with a # immediately in front (e.g. #Dubai), and the @AlArabiya account will send you the time for #iftar. This also works for #Imsak (or beginning the fast).
Twitter is also highlighting some TV shows and series produced especially for Ramadan, and many of these will offer unique content on Twitter.
You can read the complete Twitter blog here.
We have to applaud Twitter for doing their part to honor the celebration and to everyone “May you be in good health.”
