Well here it is. Just as we first discovered a few weeks ago, Facebook Lite has just been released for U.S. users to test out. Simply put, the site is SO much cleaner than Facebook regular, and much, much nicer to look at. Did I mention much, much faster?
Originally intended to be used in countries where high speed Internet connections are sparse or non-existant, apparently Facebook has realized there’s a real desire among all its users to have a smaller version of the service. [Update: More on that below] On top of a launch in the U.S., the service is also live in India right now, we’re told.
As we wrote last month:
All that being said, it is entirely possible that the service could find its way to the rest of the world as an option for those who maybe don’t want all the bells and whistles that Facebook provides, and instead just want speed. Facebook didn’t have anything to say on that matter, and specifically not the U.S., but it seems reasonable.
One great thing about Facebook Lite is that on top of being much cleaner, updates appear in real-time along the bottom of the page, something which is much nicer to look at then that ugly toolbar that is on Facebook Proper. This alongside the Facebook’s brilliant experimental desktop updater for Mac seems to show that the company is committed to user experience once again, rather than cluttering things up. Remember, keep it simple, stupid.
This move into the U.S. market with Lite is also interesting because rival MySpace did a similar thing to remove bloat back in April. Thin is in, it seems.
Of course, if you like applications on Facebook, you won’t like this version, as they are nowhere to be found. But the reason myself and many others started using Facebook in the first place was because of the social connections and data. I want to access this data as quickly as possible, I don’t care about playing games.
You’ll also notice that an “Events” tab has been added to the top toolbar. Again, this is much nicer than Facebook Proper, where events are buried in a sub-section. Also along the top, just above the Feed is a way to “View Top Stories” as opposed to those listed in order. I hate to keep repeating myself, but again, a great change.
You’ll also see that current and upcoming birthday for your contacts are at the top of the Feed.
So why India as well? Well, first of all, many people in India speak English. Second, as we noted previously, India is one of the countries that was originally being targeted by Facebook Lite, and it was the first test space it launched in several months ago. India also represents an area where Facebook is growing very fast. So fast, in fact, that Yahoo may have shut down a social network of its own, SpotM, in response to it. Google’s Orkut remains the leader in the country, however.
This is the third interesting development to come out of Facebook just today. This morning, it announced that it would open source a key part of the technology behind the recently acquired FriendFeed. And earlier this afternoon, it began using the “@ reply” syntax, mimicking the way people communicate on rival Twitter.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment as to why they decided to push this live in the U.S. so quickly. We’ll update when we hear back.
Update: Here’s what Facebook is saying on the matter:
We decided to roll out Facebook Lite in the U.S. to give users a simple, expedient alternative to facebook.com, and hope that it will fill this need. While the majority of our user base is outside the United States, we’re always working to enhance the new user experience even in markets where facebook.com is easily accessible. We have also found that people who are new to Facebook tend to be most interested in a simpler experience, focus on establishing their network of friends and communicating with them by writing on their walls, sending messages, and looking at pictures. We have introduced the Lite site with these new users in mind.
Update 2: And here’s Zuckerberg with the team that worked this banging the gong for the release.
Without all the quizzes? PLEASE SAY YES!
Correct!
No applications at all?
They seem to be ditching the wrong people…App developers provide so much traffic to FB..its what made it popular to start with..and now if many people move to lite, there will be no reason to develop for FB. +1 for Twitter who is in favor of App developers.
So It’s just a new kind of Twitter!
I like the fact that the applications are missing. Facebook has gone through application overload in the last 3 years, and I, for one, am weary of all the apps.
I’m not calling it twitter because people can still link stuff, and there’s no limit to the size of the post. I’m glad that I can automatically move around the minefield of “what body type personality from Sex and the City are you?” quizzes and “Farm Ninjas in Pirateville” apps.
Looks Awesome!A new lite version from the Facebook which is so much cleaner than Facebook regular. We welcome its launch in India. Hope that Lite will be released world over soon.
Now, if Seesmic would pull from lite.facebook.com I would be in good shape.
HELL YEAH!
Facebook Lite looks so simple and has very good user interface. It resembles Twitter. Hope this will replace Twitter when Twitter is down.
But removing the applications and some more functionalities are unexpected.
question: do regular facebook apps work on facebook lite?
No.
There’s a section in settings where you can manage which *websites* are authorized, but apps are totally gone.
Cause for celebration, I think.
Agreed, I’m not a huge fan of FB Apps, not enough time in the day to play games these days. Enough time to comment on TC however.
Facebook Book Lite = Facebook san apps = Twitter Plus
I still see farmville updates…
Hopefully hits the uk sooon
I would actually scream the praises of Facebook all over the internet if it did. Back to the good old days where removing “WhEn wIlL U dIE?!?!???!>?! LOLZZZZ jks.” from your feed every 5 minutes was not necessary.
Nice. I’d like to test it out, but in UK. Any ideas when it’s gonna go global?
worked for me in the UK
are you sure it’s launching to everyone in the US, or are they just testing this randomly among select users?
nevermind, i found out i had to go to lite.facebook.com.
On the net small is beautiful- and less can be better than more..
“Facebook: Now even more like Twitter!”
Bingo.
What will be left for twitter to call their own?
the fail whale?
+1
Seems like Facebook is on a roll… newer version of iPhone and Android application and then @Mention in status update and now Facebook light! Twitter ~ Worried?
good bye twitter.
I’m so sick of this comment. How many times have people said this? And how many months has Twitter’s traffic gone down? Answers: one billion, and never, respectively.
If anything, it’s only convincing people that they should be on twitter
SOOOO much better, thank you Facebook!
I’m really pining for Facebook lite to hit the UK, as I’m sick of my home feed being clogged up with applications. I don’t use them, so I don’t care!
Agreed! The only thing I’m missing from the regular Facebook is chat & the ability to comment on photos. They say they aren’t done, so those two “simple” things could be added.
I retract the the commenting on photos bit. I found the comment box to the right of the photos… I was looking below them. My mistake.
No chat though
Oh well, it never was very good…still.
I’ll stick with Pidgin.
if pidgin: http://code.goo...n-facebookchat/
else: http://www.face...ence/popout.php
Twitter Down???
Facebook:Going to test it out now..Let us see how good is it..
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss!
Hooray for an appless Facebook!
This is going to be a popular sentiment LOL Who knows, I may end up totally agreeing (^_^)
Lite & apps free ?
Yay !!!
I’m not sure whether or not I like Lite yet. But I’ll give it a chance…
Facebook Lite:
To go to Real Facebook site you again have to type
Facebook.com in a new tab which is waste of time
It would have been better had they provided a link to switch back between lite version and regular one
You seem to be missing the point
Yeah, thats a real waste of time..all 3 seconds of it.
Thank God i didn´t listen to stupid Techbloggers in 2007 who praised for building Facebook Apps instead of doing one´s own stuff.
Where´s the sorry from all the Techbloggers? Like “Whoops we screwed that one up big time” I guess that´ll never happen and instead they promote their next bullshit.
Facebook lite is proof that Facebook “normal” is a bloated pile of crap with thousands of features/apps that no one uses. I mean, Facebook lite is a good thing – but it shows you how misdirected and uninformed Facebook is of what their users want, and how much better a service it is with all that extra BS.
While I do like some (FEW) of the apps, I do have to agree with your point of view. It does prove just how bloated Facebook has become (almost went the way of *shudder* MySpace…)
My thoughts exactly. Well said.
I agree as well Facebook Lite will be the primary method I will use to access the social network when it’s made available in the UK!
I disagree with all of you. Offering different choices to people doesn’t mean everyone prefers the same thing. Many FB applications have millions of DAU. While “lite” sounds better to me, I wouldn’t assume that’s the case for everyone.
It looks like the US was a late addition to the roll-out due to Telco pleas from what I’ve read.
FB is sure the first thing I’ve seen people I know take interest in that is social on the web ( or even the whole ‘net).
… or maybe there is a good number of users who want apps. If nobody wanted it, nobody would would use it, and hence you wouldn’t be seeing any apps. The fact that you are annoyed with app notifications is the proof that lot of your own friends want it.
while I agree with you, what most users want is more quizes
I’m on the fence on this one. I’ve tried it, not sure whether or not I like all the extras gone…also seems like there’s TOO much access to profile info that was previously blocked. Also agree w/Ramanean – total pain to have a new tab open to get back to Facebook from FB Lite – there should be a link. Facebook Lite needs work! – Seattle, WA
Why cant you just put facebook back how it was – we dont need all the crap – we dont need all the applications – WE JUST WANT IT TO WORK!!!!!! IT WAS SIMPLE BEFORE – it WAS LITE before you got so carried away with your importance – USE something like APTIMIZE to get the pages downloading quickly – they are great! http://www.aptimize.com/blog
even microsoft are using them now. I wont be going back to facebook till i hear you have done something to clean it up. L
I hope you can at least view videos and photos!
I remember the first design, was so pure and simple and this lite version remember that kind of usability. But what is going to happend with pages and groups?
About the apps, maybe with this move they can divide the target in two groups, one “stay connect lovers”(like me) and other “friendship addicts”.
Stop compare with twitter, the Apps, interaction and way of use are diferent, the profiles are more diferent. Twitter is not a social network is a social channels because the interaction and use are not the same.
BTW, hope this coming soon to Spain, and sorry for my english
I really like Facebook Lite. It’s much cleaner. Everything kind of just works. The URL’s are much better too.
Very good job on their part.
If they would add the chat part to the lite, thats all I would use.
I like the Lite version, although the ‘Lite’ name seems to misrepresent it a bit — it’s not just the less-tasty diet version.
And I feel like a total moron here, but: What are Top Stories? As opposed to the other stories. (And I’ve always wondered, isn’t ’stories’ a bit lofty?)
Personally, I don’t see this making much of a wave against Twitter. Facebook is a real social networking website, whereas Twitter doesn’t operate in the same manner.
But, will it really be of benefit to international users with ‘poor’ internet connections. A quick visit to speedtest.net shows me that the lowest average download speed is 1.16Mbps, which is in Africa. India, where the Facebook Lite is focused at is, on average, boasting a 772kbps speed. (http://br.st/N0)
Surely it’s more for simplicity than speed reasons?
this is great… usually i just choose to hide every new app in my news feed!
Haven’t tried it yet, but sounds super cool.
This looks more like in response to Yahoo’s meme.
Nice picture, Siegler. Should send it to that HCwDB site — too bad that there aren’t any Hot Chicks around, which is not too surprising.
My sister uses “StatusShuffle” to update her status, and it’s not appearing in Lite.
What about “from TweetDeck” or from “Facebook for iPhone,” are those updates appearing for anyone?
Looks like there is a invite feature (http://lite.fac...om/invite/beta/). Not sure if it will be useful to folks living outside of US/Inida where FB lite isn’t launched.
i think u just need to go to lite.facebook.com to access the lite version.I can access it in Australia.
I just try this lite thing out & i must say it gets the job done. Facebook can be a ( BLOAT ) sometimes so this could be a good change for people that are on the road or at work just wanting to check out their page.
Looks like fb lite is not up and running in india as yet, i am not able to access it ever since the news broke!!
This is Super Stuff. Works very well on my Mobile Internet connection also here in India and as people rightly said I don’t have to go through the results of all the quizzes that my friends take
Facebook Rocks
By the way TechCrunch I really think your site also needs a lite version. If not the homepage maybe the detailed post pages, it takes a lot of time to post comments and for some reason if I keep a few posts open in parallel it really takes up a lot of memory
wow, this is like ZERO javascript. not even for the comments drop down (which clutters the wall a bit, because every update comes with a comment seciton visible from the onset). lovely.
Facebook definitely needs some acceleration web soft, i.e. Web Optimizer – http://code.goo...eb-optimizator/
Its kinda surprising that they are moving away from Apps whereas Twitter seems to be embracing apps. Personally, i don’t like apps on FB, but i think most people can’t live without them. But it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the app developers if more and more people start using lite.fb.com
Facebook lite is really lite!!! Specially no more FB apps!!!!!!
is available in Canada
I like this version a lot better than the regular facebook, but the absence of the chat bothers much. If it was available, it would be just perfect!
Facebook Lite said 8 hours ago:
You asked us to make Facebook Lite more widely available, and we’re happy to help. Lite is now available to anyone who uses Facebook in English. We are working on translating Lite into other languages. Keep your feedback coming!
So, not only U.S. anymore
It is available in bulgaria too
I just tried it over here in the UK and it works! Lot better then the full featured version!
another feather added…
Seems to work for me in Canada!
Love the new Facebook Lite!! its like going back in the days of simpler facebook without all the bloat of the application/quizzes hanging around and of course there are still some ads on the left but i love how its quick and still keeps the sanity of facebook.
I think facebook is still better than twitter as you don’t have to sit there looking at the streams and miss something from someone, although you can search but come on..
Facebook lite is also available in France.
it is not rolled out in Germany, but through the lite. subdomain i can access it and use it just like someone in the US.