Facebook sinks Lite
Not enough fluff
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Facebook has shelved its "lite" version for the bandwidth challenged, saying that the service was a learning experience but one that's no longer needed.
Facebook Lite was launched last summer, aimed at developing markets where bandwidth isn't such a ubiquitous commodity, but despite locking some users into it the service was never very popular and now users attempting to connect are instead pushed to the normal Facebook home page.
The problem with cutting the fluff from Facebook is that it's the fluff that people want. Social networking is all very well, but for most users it's about accumulating contacts who can be impressed by your FarmVille score or the size of your castle. Witty comments aside, Facebook Lite couldn't provide that Flash-based interactivity.
But there's still the mobile version of Facebook, which works well enough on the desktop for those who really do just want status updates, as well as the touch version for the iPhone crowd and all sorts of specialist client applications for smartphones and desktops. Most of these reduce the bandwidth requirement to manageable levels. Facebook Zero is only available through cooperating network operators, so we've not had a chance to try it yet.
Facebook hasn't explained why Lite has been dropped, but given the plethora of alternatives and the fact that it cut out some of the most popular features the question is rather why Lite was launched in the first place and how it lasted so long. ®
COMMENTS
Nooooo
Why didn't Facebook not just pull the plug on Farmville, Zooville and Mafiawars instead, I have actually deleted friends who done nothing but play those games resulting in me getting pages and pages of crap posted.
I would have used it...
I have a MIPS netbook that just can't handle full-fat Facebook. As a travel gadget it's dead handy, though -- reasonable battery, optional wifi etc. Facebook always refused to let it use the mobile interface and redirected me to www. -- I couldn't be bothered faking the browser string so I gave up.
Given the "getting stuck in lite" thing, I didn't attempt it.
So I just don't use Facebook on the road.
was perfect for mobile browsing
been wondering why its stopped working.... I used the lite version of facebook all the time on my mobile.
it was perfect for checking facebook on the mobile without having to worry about farm/stars/chicks/zombies/mafia/etc game notifications clogging up my feed and using up all my bandwidth. It had all the features of the www. version of facebook but without all the c**p.
the touch version of facebook is very limited in what it can do, and I haven't found an app yet that comes close to the features available on lite.
this is a shame
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