Going Glocal With Open Social

What’s new in Open Social?

We’re introducing our multi-language feature! English has been tagged as the universal language and is used by the majority of global organizations. However, it may not always be the chosen language for all businesses. There are many cases where local businesses need to operate in their local language, or in multiple languages. Open Social has recognized this need and decided to develop and offer a multi-language feature for our online community software.

Language is not only a means to communicate; it usually has more profound implications for people’s self-consciousness. People, volunteers, employees and stakeholders alike tend to be more confident when they can operate in their native language. This confidence is translated into higher efficiency and achieving a greater sense of togetherness, aka the necessary ingredients for a productive community!

A Multi-Language Feature for Communities

Open Social’s community software now supports multiple languages. Our multi-language feature allows community users to choose their preferred interface language. Is your first language Dutch? We have it covered!

At this moment, Dutch and English are available as defaults. We have customers from all over the world, but some of them are especially close; right here in The Netherlands. Hence, Dutch is the first language we added to Open Social, but we plan on expanding to more languages soon.

If there is a preferred language other than Dutch or English, our premium and enterprise customers can request a language by contacting us via help@getopensocial.com.

Here are the benefits we saw for implementing the multi-language feature for Open Social:

Local Management. Organizations that operate on a local level (and don’t communicate in English) need a platform that supports multiple languages. This way, the organization and its members can operate efficiently in their local language.
Planning for an international future. Communities with international members will provide their community with experiences in their language. The language barrier between the platform and the user will no longer exist.
Bridging the culture gap. A multi-language platform addresses various cultural needs through language. Improved listening and understanding will create a stronger bond between members.

Here’s How It Works

Site managers can choose which languages they want to offer their users in Open Social. Once there are multiple languages available, users choose which language they prefer in their settings.

Users can now use the platform interface in their selected language; it’s that simple. Users can enjoy translated interface texts (such as ‘write a comment’) in their Open Social community.

Here’s what else can be translated: Site managers can also translate and customize the menu links and the notifications that users receive in both emails and the notification center (for example, when users create new accounts or need a password reset).

This feature does not translate user-generated content; however, we have other options available to our enterprise customers (such as google translate widget plugin and content translation) that helps translate user-generated content.

Please note that these features are only available in our enterprise package. In order to enable the multi-language feature for your community, contact us via help@getopensocial.com.

Going Glocal with Open Social

Glocal is a hybrid term for both global and local; which is the core advantage of our multi-language feature. This feature allows organizations to focus their efforts locally in the local language. At the same time, it opens the doors to international opportunities where language does not need to be a barrier to clear communication and efficiency. The best part is that you get to choose the cultural context of your community.