In a huge rush of expansion, Facebook has announced that it is launching the Messenger Lite service in 150 new countries. The company first announced the application last October with a pilot in five countries. Now though, it is really going all out and is introducing the Messenger Lite app to 150 new countries — including, a slew of developing markets that have hitherto been ignored by many of Facebook’s competitors.
In case you are unaware of it, Messenger Lite is a Facebook offering that allows you to utilize features like messaging, photo and link sharing and stickers. The app is all purpose and no frills our of necessity. Facebook wants users in countries that do not enjoy particularly great Internet connectivity to still be able to stay connected with their friends and families via messenger and hence, Messenger Lite.
Announcing the news, Facebook’s head of Messenger David Marcus said:
Making sure that everyone can have a great experience with Messenger irrespective of the age of their smartphone is very important to us. This is why today we’re making Messenger Lite available in 150 additional countries including Germany, Colombia, Italy, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Turkey, Japan, Taiwan and the Netherlands.
The app also lacks features like Messenger Day and camera effects, however, Facebook means this app for areas that don’t enjoy particularly great Internet connectivity and these features wouldn’t work correctly under such circumstances anyways.
Messenger Lite is a pretty small application, and it can download in a flash. The data usage is pretty low as well and as such, it can work using 2G connections as well. You can send messages to your buddies and in case the Internet is unstable the message will be delivered when the net comes back on.
The list of countries the app has been launched in, is as follows:
The new application could well allow Facebook to reach a section of users who have been relying heavily upon things like SMS. Messenger Lite could allow them to communicate for free, even when the data connectivity isn’t at it peak. It could also give Facebook a significant edge over services like Snapchat, who are still happy catering to a very limited section of their potential audience.
