Facebook says hola to Spanish amigos

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook.com has introduced a version of the site for Spanish-language speakers, the first of several languages beyond English the social network site plans to offer, the company said on Thursday.

Facebook, the online social network phenomenon that has enjoyed explosive international growth over the past nine months despite remaining an English-only site, said it will introduce German- and French-language versions within weeks.

Sixty percent of Facebook's roughly 64 million users live outside of the United States. More than 2.8 million active users live in Latin America or Spain, the company said.

Facebook users can choose to view the site in Spanish by changing their account settings. Starting on Monday, Facebook users who sign on to the Web from Spanish-speaking countries will automatically be directed to Facebook en espanol.

(Reporting by Eric Auchard; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)