Twitter is ready to take up every initiative possible to induce growth into its stagnating user base. Thus, the micro-blogging platform is today taking the wraps off a faster and browser-friendly version of its mobile platform, which is specially designed for locations with a spotty internet connection. It is now looking to tackle the growing number of mobile internet users by providing an effortless Twitter experience even on slower network connections, especially in emerging nations.
Born out of optimizing the mobile platform for speed, Twitter Lite has been designed keeping in mind several elements to provide the core micro-blogging experience. In the official blog post, Twitter’s product manager Patrick Traughber mentions that the new mobile web experience has been optimized to launch 30 percent faster to provide quicker navigation and control. It was announced on stage at a launch event in India.
In building this new version, Twitter has kept the following core pillars as the center of attention for designing the experience — data usage minimization, resilient experience on sluggish network connections and smaller size (takes up less than 1 MB on their devices). And it hasn’t compromised on any of the prominent features that we’ve come to love — our timeline, Tweets, Direct Messages, replies (which have become a little confusing for some), trends, profiles, media uploads, notifications, and more. Also, there’s no headache of updating the app to the latest version as it is all taken care of automatically.
Introducing Twitter Lite on mobile web! ?
Loads quickly, takes up less space, and is data-friendly. Learn more: https://t.co/Zd825WOdQz pic.twitter.com/l1n0cYJuPc
— Twitter (@Twitter) April 6, 2017
In addition, the company has introduced a data saver mode, similar to the one in their mobile applications. This further reduces the amount of mobile data used by showing a blurred preview of images and videos in the feed, instead of directly downloading them. It prompts you to tap on the said piece of content, specifically using a button reading load image or load video, to view the same. This, says, can help users reduce their data spendings by up to 70 percent — which is actually a lot.
Wait..wait..wait..we’re not finished yet. Twitter has also enabled the users to pin this new Lite application to the homescreen for simpler one-tap access anytime. The new version of the mobile web platform has even brought in support for offline access, which means you can keep reading loaded content even when the connection vanishes.
Also, Twitter is making it even simpler for users to stay up-to-date with their daily social nuances using the Google Chrome browser on Android devices. It’ll provide you rich push notifications to alert you of the happenings throughout the day.
Also, the micro-blogging platform has partnered with Vodafone to further push the Twitter Lite service out to the telecom carrier’s 200 million users. They are leveraging Vodafone’s audience to promote the platform as the go-to destination for live sports updates about Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, teams, and players as the cricket season kicks off. It is being made available in 42 languages in the country.
Twitter is late to the party and is finally turning its attention to the regions with sluggish internet connections but a knack for instant conversations (or gossips) — looking at most Indians. Thus, it’s following pursuit to the efforts of several other technology giants such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft (Skype Lite), and others.
But, it is treading down a rather different path from its competitors who’ve released Lite mobile apps. Twitter is releasing its mobile Lite version through the browser instead of releasing a separate that further clutters your app drawer. The lighter mobile web version of Twitter’s app would also come in handy for individuals with expensive data plans or lack of data storage on their devices. This is the company’s effort to:
No matter where you are in the world, we want to make Twitter the best way for you to get real-time updates on news, sports, entertainment, politics, and other topics that matter most to you.
If you are reading this story on a smartphone or tablet, then navigate to mobile.twitter.com right away to get your hands on Twitter Lite. And do not forget to comment how breezy the experience feels down below.
