With Ramadan kicking-off ’round about now, more than a billion people globally will mark the Muslim month of fasting by abstaining from eating and drinking from dawn until sunset.
This year, however, Google is seemingly going all out to help celebrate the occasion by streaming Islamic prayers live from Mecca, something it first initiated last year. However, it’s going even further in 2012.
For those looking to gather with family and watch Ramadan-related TV shows created for the holiday, YouTube will help with the scheduling and overlapping issue that happens when so many programmes are broadcast. A new YouTube Ramadan channel seeks to let viewers watch more than fifty premium Ramadan shows on-demand.
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While fasting plays a pivotal part in the Ramadan celebrations, so does food. When the sun goes down, Google is hosting thirty virtual Google+ Hangouts throughout Ramadan (one each day), reeling in celebrity chefs to share their top recipes, and other notable public figures will discuss all-things-Ramadan. The Google+ Arabia page is where you can find out more about that.
So Google is really looking to align itself with Ramadan in 2012, and take one of the oldest holy celebrations into the digital age.
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