15 August 2009

Social Networking Giant Facebook
To Take On Twitter With Facebook Lite?

Social networking giant Facebook is currently testing a 'Lite' version of its planetary popular service in order to directly compete with rival micro blogging service Twitter?!

The new system, named 'Facebook Lite' is mainly focused on messaging and user updates and industry experts are viewing the development as the latest in a series of moves from Facebook to take on Twitter.

According to Facebook, it is not fully ready for prime time yet, they have plenty of kinks to work out, it was mistakenly rolled out to more users than intended!

"The test was temporarily exposed to a larger set of users by mistake and we have not opened up access to lite.facebook.com to all users at this time.'' said a Facebook spokesman.

A select number of Facebook users who were lucky enough to be invited to take part in a beta test of Facebook Lite claimed that it 'looks like a simplified version of Twitter with comments addition. The service is currently being tested in India but with further tests in China and Russia expected to follow, it could become available to UK users in the future.

*click to enlarge

And here’s Facebook’s official response:

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.

This evening, the test was temporarily exposed to a larger set of users by mistake. We have not opened up access to lite.facebook.com to all users at this time. People who are not part of the test and are trying to access “Lite” will be directed to Facebook.com as usual.
The service is currently being tested in India but with further tests in China

Tester Azhar Chougle said: 'And let me tell you it's so much damn faster than the normal Facebook.' 'Of course, now Facebook is itself cluttered with settings, applications and toolbars,' he added. 'So to many, this Facebook Lite design would be welcome.'

Status updates are displayed on the users' profile pages and delivered to other users who subscribe to them. Users can receive status updates through the Twitter Web site, SMS, RSS, e-mail, or an application such as Twitterrific, Facebook