Arabic Feminine was launched along with the #FeminineArabic campaign to reshape how Twitter engages with Arabic-speaking women on the platform and encourages them to speak out.
Twitter’s #FeminineArabic campaign has bagged a Silver Lion on day three of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022.
The campaign, launched with the support of VMLY&R and Hill+Knowlton Strategies, was awarded by the Social & Influencer Lions, which celebrate creative social thinking and strategic influencer marketing solutions, in the Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility category.
Commenting on the win, Carla El Maalouli, Head of Marketing, Twitter, MENA, said: “We are honoured to have been recognised by Cannes Lions this year for a campaign that captures our ethos of inclusivity. As a company, Twitter is continuously exploring new ideas and projects to ensure the platform is representative of the diverse voices that shape the conversation and the “Arabic (Feminine)” language setting is a continuation of our work around inclusive language. The overwhelming support received from our community helps us continue to focus on developing and shaping Twitter to best serve our audience and the wider industry.”
A key language on the service globally, in the Arabic language, every noun and verb is either feminine or masculine, meaning that the language addresses women in a precise and targeted way. As a result, when people, brands, or social media platforms for that matter, are addressing a broad group of individuals, they defer to the masculine form. When this becomes the norm, fewer people think to use the proposer feminine form to address women specifically.
This issue was first signalled by Arabic women using the platform and was quickly picked-up by Twitter MENA. Twitter took advantage of a yearly programming event to update outdated language seen in Twitter’s coding, resulting in the creation of the Arabic Feminine setting.
The Arabic Feminine launch was accompanied by the #FeminineArabic campaign that sought to reshape how Twitter engages with Arabic-speaking women on the platform and encourage them to make their voices heard. Following the initial launch Tweets, eleven brands amplified the campaign through content that reaffirmed their commitment to female empowerment.
This update is a celebration of the Arabic language as it provides women an opportunity to share their unique voice and participate in conversations inclusively. In the Arabic language many powerful words are feminine, from ‘power’ and ‘revolution’ to ‘life’ and ‘happiness’, and this product update reflects the strength of the language and its ability to tailor to the feminine form.
