The Effect of Culture on User Interface Design of Social Media - A Case Study on Preferences of Saudi Arabians on the Arabic User Interface of Facebook

Social media continues to grow, and user interfaces
may become more appealing if cultural characteristics are
incorporated into their design.
Facebook was designed in the west, and the original language was
English. Subsequently, the words in the user interface were translated
to other languages, including Arabic.
Arabic words are written from right to left, and English is written
from left to right. The translated version may misrepresent the
original design and users’ preferences may be influenced by their
culture, which should be considered in the user interface design.
Previous research indicates that users are more comfortable when
interacting with a user interface, which relates to their own culture.
Therefore, this paper, using a survey, investigates the preferences of
Saudi Arabians on the Arabic version of the user interface of
Facebook.

• Hana Almakky
• Reza Sahandi
• Jacqui Taylor

• Culture
• Facebook
• Saudi Arabia
• Social media
• User Interface Design.

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