WINNIPEG — The world’s most popular social network has created a new version of its app. It doesn’t look as pretty, but if it makes its way to Canada, it could save smartphone users money.
Facebook Lite rolled out over the weekend in Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. It was created to be more accessible to older phones and 2G networks but has since caught the attention of people who want to lower their data use.
“Bandwidth is like this black hole. No one knows exactly how much bandwidth they’re spending each month,” said Kevin Hnatiuk at New Media Manitoba. The tech expert said he could see other widely used apps hopping on board.
“I think apps like Instagram or other major services could potentially follow suit and become more bandwidth friendly,” said Hnatiuk.
But as far as the spread to Canada and North America goes, Hnatiuk said although the money saving may be appealing, we may not have the patience to view a scaled-down app.
“Now that we’ve had a taste of what it’s like to have a full rich feature app in the Western world, we’ll probably expect to continue to see that service,” said Hnatiuk.
Facebook will monitor feedback from the handful of Asian and African countries where the Lite version is available before deciding whether to offer the app to users in other countries.
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