Oops! Invitation To Facebook Lite Frustrates Many Users
Facebook is testing a stripped-down version of its social-networking Web site. The new version, which reportedly increases the speed of updates and posts, is expected to make Facebook a better contender against Twitter.
Late Tuesday, Facebook mistakenly sent out an invitation to a large audience of users to test the version, dubbed Facebook Lite. The invitation was intended for only a small number of users, Facebook told TechCrunch.
The majority of users who received the invitation and a link to follow were sent to the current version of Facebook. The move confused and frustrated users.
“This evening, the test was temporarily exposed to a larger set of users by mistake,” Facebook said. “We have not opened up access to lite.facebook.com to all users at this time. People who are not part of the test and are trying to access Lite will be directed to Facebook.com as usual.”
Peaked Interest
While the slipup spurred interest in Facebook Lite, observers are already commenting on why it was created.
Some say Lite’s faster uploads are an attempt to compete with rival Twitter. Others believe the move was to create a similar service to FriendFeed, a company Facebook just purchased for $50 million. FriendFeed is a service that enables friends to share information such as photos, video or links online in real time.
Facebook isn’t alone in its need to compete. MySpace also launched a stripped-down version called MySpace Lite View.
The purpose of Lite View is to speed up page loads for users who visit a page that includes lots of embedded content such as YouTube videos, slideshows and Flash-heavy applications.
Downloading such a page can take a user a long time, especially if the user is on a dial-up connection, according to MySpace. Users just click on Lite View to get the simplified version of MySpace.
Need For…
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