Facebook Lite
Just two days after Facebook’s announcement that it had acquired FriendFeed, when many users logged into Facebook this morning, they were offered the chance to be a beta tester for a new version of Facebook, called Facebook Lite (http://lite.facebook.com).
What is it?
The message the selected beta testers received explains that it is a “faster, simpler version” of Facebook. However, the link (http://lite.facebook.com) doesn’t currently work (it just redirects you to the normal homepage), and the beta tester message disappeared almost immediately. A mistaken early release of the message by Facebook perhaps?
What will it look like?
It has been suggested that the new Facebook Lite, which will be very Twitter-like, may look something like this:
There will potentially be four streams: Wall (only your status updates), Info (your basic information), Friends (only friends’ status updates) and Photos & Video (new photos and videos that have been uploaded by you and your friends).
What’s the point of it?
Streamlining the currently quite cluttered Facebook will probably make it more appealing to users, perhaps particularly those who are used to Twitter, since the new interface seems quite similar. There have been rumours that Facebook wants to prioritise the information stream, and if the Lite version looks like the screenshot, it’s going a long way to achieving that.
UPDATE 12 Aug 2009 14:53
Facebook has released a press statement about Facebook Lite, stating it is aimed at countries where broadband is not so common, such as India, where it is currently being trialled. People will be able to “make comments, accept friend requests, write on people’s walls, and look at photos and status updates”, said the press release.
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