Comparing Facebook and Facebook Lite
How Lite Differs from Facebook, and How to Navigate Lite Facebook
Sep 11, 2009
Throughout August and September 2009, there were rumblings online of Facebook testing a beta version of their new application, Facebook Lite. On September 10, 2009, the site went live for Facebook account holders in the US and India (though later online reports showed that the service was indeed available globally almost immediately). Though ostensibly intended to serve the Facebook population longing for cleaner design and lighter bandwidth, Facebook may be trying to compete more directly with the simplicity and ease of Twitter.
How do the two sites differ? More importantly, how do Facebook Lite users get to the features and items that matter most to them? The easiest way to see the changes outlined below is to open two browser windows and view the two pages side by side. At first glance, Lite is far simpler and cleaner than Facebook, but is it really easier to use?
Facebook Lite vs. Facebook: The Home Page News Feed Friends Controls
The "Home" page still displays a news feed of friends and fanned pages, and includes posted links and status updates. It does not include applications or polls.
What is most conspicuously absent are the friend filter lists and the controls over whose updates users regularly wish to see. Whatever a user's default news list is on Facebook, this will be your only option on Lite. The same goes for control over "hiding" certain friends' status updates.
If one does not want to unfriend someone who updates their status messages every 5 minutes with their every breath, but also don't want to see those updates, on Facebook users can hover the mouse over the upper right corner of the update in the news feed and "hide" that individual. On Facebook Lite, the people that have previously been hidden stay hidden (unlike the Facebook application for iPhone), but users have no way of hiding anyone else.
While there are three spaces for suggestions of people users may know in the right sidebar on Facebook Lite, there appears to be no way to access the larger friend search and suggestion feature page that is available on Facebook.
Also, to go along with the elimination of friend management, the Lite version does not have a "Friends" menu at the top of the page. To see the friend list, click on "Profile" and then in the left side menu, click "Friends".
Verdict: If users have a large number of friends to manage or are picky about what one sees on the newsfeed, those users should either set up the default settings rigorously before switching to Lite, or forego it altogether.
Facebook Lite vs. Facebook: Updating Statuses and Links
Instead of the large "What's on your mind?" text box for status updates, there are buttons for Lite users to click "Write", "Add Photos" or "Add Video".
If a user clicks "Write" and fills out a status, it will jump that user's page back to the Profile page instead of staying on the home page. The "simplified" layout has eliminated the familiar tabs at the top of the page, so instead of clicking "Home", users on Lite have to click the Facebook logo to return to their newsfeed.
While shared links appear in the newsfeed, they are not easy to share on the Facebook Lite application. There is no "Link" button, and users would have to share the messy URL with no thumbnails and no context in their status updates if they only used Facebook Lite.
Verdict: Lite is not as user-friendly with the wonky page-changes and eliminated menu options. If users are involved in article marketing or frequently share links or news with Facebook friends, Facebook Lite is not an appropriate choice. Those users will find that their messages will still reach fans and friends if they are on Lite, but they will have to stick with the traditional site to keep it looking attractive and interesting.
Facebook Lite vs. Facebook: Applications, Quizzes, Games
Facebook Lite blocks application updates, requests and invitations, as well as quiz results and online games. The application toolbar is not at the bottom of the page (which also means that the chat function is not available on Facebook Lite).
Access to these games is only available through the main Facebook site.
Verdict: If users like to play Facebook games, take quizzes or polls, then Lite is not the right choice.
Facebook Lite vs. Facebook: the Lowdown
A "power" user of Facebook (one who logs in every day, has more than 100 friends, frequently adds links, status updates, fans business pages and takes the occasional quiz) may consider skipping Facebook Lite unless they are visiting grandma and have to connect via a 56K modem.
If users only care about status updates and photos, and don't already get these from Twitter, then by all means, stick with the simpler faster Lite.
Businesses and marketers who rely on Facebook for application interactions, ad hits or fan page responses, please click here to explore the further business implications of Facebook Lite.
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