Internet connections in several developing countries can be sluggish, and while things are changing, there are still multitudes of people using 2G connections on their mobile devices. Companies like Microsoft often customize their services to serve customers in these countries. Now, Twitter is following that lead by rolling out a lighter version of its mobile website that minimizes data usage on those devices.
The company announced it (you guessed it) via a tweet:
According to GSMA, 45% of mobile connections are still using 2G networks, making the web browsing experience a less-than-ideal affair. Twitter Lite handles this problem by "loading up quickly on slower connections, being resilient on unreliable mobile networks, and taking up less than 1MB on your device". In addition, the company has added a "data saver mode" that shows you a preview of the media on your timeline before you choose to load them. This mode will further save up to 70% of your data, according to Twitter.
The service also added enhanced features on Chrome and other browsers on Android which allows the mobile website to send "a wide range" of push notifications to your device. It also offers offline support to enable an uninterrupted browsing session even if your network is unreliable.
Twitter has also partnered with Vodafone India to promote Lite as a way to stay connected to sports updates, as one of the biggest sporting event in the country, the Indian Premier League, is underway. The company shared details about how they built the service and what it seeks to solve in a blog post, which can be read here.
Source: Twitter