Twitter has begun testing of a new translation tool this week to assist users to understand the tweets by some verified accounts in Egypt.
The new service is powered by Microsoft’s Bing search engine. The service automatically translates tweets and is currently applicable to the recently ousted Mohammed Morsi, opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei and Arab Spring activist Wael Ghonim.
“As part of our experiment with tweet text translation, we’ve enabled translation for some of the most-followed accounts in Egypt, so people around the world can better understand and keep up with what’s happening there,” said the company in a statement.
Although online translation is nothing new, the automatic translation of texts within Twitter’s own platform help people understand and follow series of event on the platform itself without having to paste the text elsewhere for translation.
Twitter has launched this service at a time where many people are actively following the service for live updates in Egypt. In 2011 the social media service was widely credited in acting as a catalyst in the downfall of various Middle East regimes.
A full list, active Twitter accounts currently receiving automatic translation can be .
