E-Marketing in Minneapolis David Vinge, eMarketing Dashboard : Facebook testing "Lite"

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Facebook testing "Lite"


Facebook is now testing a “faster, simpler version of Facebook” called Facebook Lite. It is reported that this is a more “FriendFeed-esque” version of Facebook. It only displays status updates, likes, and comments – no activity stories, application stories, or embedded content appear. The image above shows how profile page appears in the Facebook Lite beta.

A Facebook spokesperson has revealed that "We are currently testing a simplified alternative to Facebook.com that loads a specific set of features quickly and efficiently. Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook “Lite” is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept Friend requests, write on people’s Walls, and look at photos and Status updates. We are currently testing Facebook Lite in countries where we are seeing lots of new users coming to Facebook for the first time and are looking to start off with a more simple experience."

Facebook has not announced a timeline for making lite.facebook.com open to all users.

Is Facebook reacting to the simplicity of Twitter? Or is this a way to make Facebook more accessible for users in countries where download speed matters due to bandwidth constraints? Or is this part of the plan for the next phase of the recent acquisition of FriendFeed?

Here is a link to a larger view of the Facebook Lite screen shot.

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