By Kristie Bartlett

Launched in October, Gabble is an online community that brings together people from every corner of the world in a conversation using pictures instead of words.

Conceived by musician Peter Gabriel and developed by his Real World Studios in partnership with Great Fridays, Gabble trascends the traditional boundaries of language. Unique, fun and free, Gabble gives everyone the opportunity to chat with friends old and new by creating whole sentences from a huge library of images, animations and illustrations. Start a conversation and who knows how far and wide it could go…

“I’m convinced we will soon learn to use multimedia as a basic tool for person-to-person communication,” says Peter, “which is why our idea was to create a universal visual language that replaces words and phrases.”

Every Gabble user ~ or Gabbler ~ has access to a central library of still and moving images to use in conversations and get their message across. The possibilities are endless – from friends and family who just want a chat with a difference to a clever translation tool that helps people who don’t share a common language.

“I’m sure Gabble will initially be used to make funny, irreverent and downright rude communications,” adds Peter, “but there are many potential serious applications that will follow. Imagine you’re on holiday in China, fall ill and need a doctor urgently. Just load your phone’s Gabble app, speak into it and your words will translate into simple pictures anyone can understand, no matter the language they speak.”

Alongside the launch of Gabble, Peter is releasing the 25th anniversary edition of his iconic album So in remastered form and with previously unreleased content. Enjoying a vision and musical landscape as vast and diverse as the album’s range of influences, fans can now listen to So through an app where lyrics are represented in Gabble form. Says Peter, “The So Gabble app will invite you to interpret my lyrics in any way you see fit and show you just what it can do. I hope you have fun with it.”

A competition will run during the launch of the app giving Gabblers the opportunity to win a signed So box set. To take part in the competition users will have to download the free So…Gabble app, which comes with “Big Time” included. Users will then need to select and edit their chosen track and share to Gabble.com. Details of the competition can be found on gabble.com/competition and the winners will be those users who receive the most likes for their Gabbles.

Join the conversation by becoming a part of the Gabble globe now and let’s keep things interesting!

The Gabble website is now live at www.gabble.com and the So…Gabble app is available for free through iTunes at itunes.apple.com/gb/app/so…gabble/id571337491?mt=8.