Brazil · First international launch

Today we launched Community Notes in Brazil, our first international expansion. It is hard for me to describe how much work is behind this launch, and as a Brazilian, how much it means to me to see it finally happening. Brazil has at least the same degree misinformation as the US — if not more — and I'm excited to see how much positive impact it can have.

Community Notes has been on the works for years now, and a lot of the product was built with an experimental/mvp approach that didn't necessarily prepare us to handle different languages and cultures.

In addition to that, our ranking algorithm works very well in the U.S in part because it is able to tell people's opinion groups based on their notes and ratings. In other cultures, however, we're very much in the dark: our product could be able to find groups and nuances in opinions, or it could struggle to tell consensus from the crowd. In a sense, if feels like starting all over again -- with a very small group, with "pilot" mentality, attention to every detail, and fingers crossed.

This was my first time managing and executing an internationalization project, and I learned so much from it. The fact that I can speak Portuguese was a big advantage, as I was able to review all incoming translations (interface, comms, help center articles, documentation, etc) and make sure they were accurate and consistent. This will not be true as we expand to other languages.

I was, to be very honest, appalled to learn how challenging it is to get good translated material from vendors, as they don't always have the context necessary about the product, it's goals, and the audience, and it made me much more aware about how big of a challenge i18n is. We put so much intention and craft behind the words we use in Community Notes, and we're working hard to make sure contributors in all languages can experience the same intent.

Anyway, we're stoked to see what Brazilians make of Community Notes, and looking forward to expanding to more countries soon.

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