Was Facebook Lite really required?
A few months, Facebook Lite had called in for a Blogger’s meet and I met Vijay Shankar, Global Product Manager — Facebook Lite there.
After listening to his reasons of what Facebook Lite could achieve as against the full fledged app, I was still doubtful if there was really a need for a sub-1MB app that could do quite some of the features halfheartedly that the original app had.
The reasons came in as Facebook being able to work on spotty low speed connections and across many devices. Though India’s average Internet speed continues to be one of the slowest among countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the fact that the primary internet device used is a mobile handheld device is very evident.
Looking at the facts, a compact application certainly makes a lot of sense for the most used social network and for those whose first introduction to the social world is sharing photos on Facebook.
I even know people who have bought their first mobile just to be on Facebook with their friends. With online marketplaces selling smartphones under INR1000 ($15), there is hardly anyone who will think many times before they join in.
All said and done the contention still remains if they could have just made the existing app lighter and not have a separate size optimized app to reach the newer pockets of the internet population.
