Pretty much on the lines of Facebook Lite, the social networking giant has now rolled out ‘Messenger Lite’. And as is pretty much evident from the name itself, the app is meant for emerging markets which continue to have sluggish internet speeds.
Messenger Lite is under 10MB, so it’s fast to install and quick to start up. It includes Messenger’s core experiences such as messaging, sending and receiving photos and links, and receiving stickers. Messenger Lite uses the same bolt logo as Messenger, but with colors reversed. The bolt is blue with a white chat bubble background.
Messenger’s goal is to be a “product for everyone, not only people who can afford a higher-end device and more expensive data plan”, Marcus said in an interview.
While the app is pretty much simple, it continues to highlight Facebook’s focus on reaching out to a larger populace. While Messenger already sees close to 1 billion people exchanging messages on its platform, Facebook’s recent initiatives point towards the fact that it wants to reach the rest of 6 Billion of us on Earth.
Be it the ‘not-so-well-received’ internet.org or the recent roll out of ‘Lite’ versions of its core apps, Facebook is continuing to focus on its core principle — connecting everyone on earth via internet.
The app is starting to roll out to people in Kenya, Tunisia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela. Look for Messenger Lite in other countries in the coming months. David Marcus, head of messaging products at Facebook said they decided these five countries for launch since because there are a lot of users for Facebook’s flagship IM app in these countries on older devices.
