World’s largest social networking website Facebook has launched an app called Facebook Lite, which is optimized for low-end Android devices. Facebook Lite launched in a limited number of countries across Asia and Africa over the weekend. Depending on the app’s feedback, Facebook Lite may expand to other countries.
One of the biggest complaints about the current Facebook application is that it takes up too many resources and is of 25MB for Android devices. Which is probably why Facebook released Facebook Lite, a super lightweight version of its app directed at developing markets.
The Facebook Lite app is only 252KB, a size that is substantially lower than the 70.1MB Facebook iOS app and the 25MB Facebook Android app. The app can work flawlessly on 2G internet connections.
So far, the Lite app received very good positive reviews from the users. The app lets the users to post status updates, upload photos, message friends and all other basic functionalities that is in the current mobile apps.
The app has been rated by over 700 people with an average of 4.5 stars out of 5 on the Google Play app store. The app has been downloaded between 10,000 and 50,000 times. It is available for download in Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Out of Facebook’s 1.23 billion monthly active userbase, 945 million of them are mobile users. Of the total mobile users, Facebook has over 100 million mobile users in India, 60 million mobile users in Indonesia and 57 million mobile users in Brazil. Growth in emerging markets presents a tremendous opportunity and Facebook Lite could potentially help Facebook reach their next billion users.
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