In 2016, Facebook had in excess of 1.9 billion users. Twitter had approximately 319 million. With the launch of its latest 'Lite' app, the social network is aiming to draw in more users with the promise of faster connections for less data.
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Twitter Lite has been designed specifically for the mobile web and focuses on improving the quality of service for areas with unreliable connectivity. It takes up less than a megabyte of storage and claims it can save up to 70 per cent on data while loading 30 per cent faster.
Intended as progressive web app, Lite is essentially a web application that launches straight to a main content link - basically a web tab in app form. Developed in partnership with Google, it claims to dramatically improve the reliability of the social media service on mobile platforms.
It includes all the regular features of the Twitter app, including a regular feed, notifications, tabs and a direct messaging option.
The social media firm announced Lite in a blog post and said the introduction will help to provide Twitter to those with "slow mobile networks, expensive data plans, or lack of storage on mobile devices". The web app is compatible with recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Android Browser, Microsoft Edge and Opera.
There is speculation that Twitter is specifically targeting India for the new rollout of its platform. Reuters noted that the release of the platform coincides with the start this week of the Indian Premier League's Twenty20 tournament - an event that will provide a lot of social traffic across the country.
Since Twitter Lite claims to work even in areas of poor connectivity, it could dramatically improve the company's level of customer engagement.
It's being rolled out globally and will become the new standard format for users on mobile devices and can be used on both Android and iOS phones.
As well as Twitter Lite, the firm says it has introduced a new data saving mode that's available when logged in through a mobile web browser.
"In this mode, you will see a preview of images and videos before choosing which ones to fully load," the firm says in its blog post.
"This can reduce your data usage by up to 70%, making it more affordable for you to use Twitter in areas where mobile data is expensive."
To turn the data saving feature on, login to the mobile web browser tap on the profile picture and turn on the "data saver" setting. When this is activated only a blurred preview of images and videos will be shown – with the user given the option of downloading them to view.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
