Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is launching a faster version of its mobile
service on Wednesday aimed at people with sporadic connections or
little data on their smartphone plans, hoping to pick up users in
harder-to-reach emerging markets.
The company calls the version Twitter Lite and it will be aimed
largely at users outside the United States. Twitter Lite works
through a web browser, not a stand-alone phone application, but its
appearance and functionality are nearly identical to what app users
experience, according to a preview shown to Reuters.
The launch comes on the heels of similar products from other U.S.
tech firms. Facebook Inc (FB.O) released Facebook Lite in 2015 and
on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube unveiled a low-data
mobile app designed for India.
San Francisco-based Twitter lags behind those companies in building
a user base. It had 319 million average monthly active users at the
end of last year, up 4 percent year-over-year but still a fraction
of Facebook’s 1.9 billion users.
A primary reason in some parts of the world is how much data its
app and earlier website consumed, Keith Coleman, Twitter’s vice
president of product, said in an interview.
“We didn’t feel like we were reaching these other countries well
enough, and this will allow us to do it faster, cheaper and with a
better experience than we’ve had before,” he said.
The company estimates that, with several changes it is making to
its mobile website, mobile.twitter.com, users will see their
average data consumption on the browser version go down 40
percent.
With an additional data-saving feature users can turn on, data
consumption will drop some 70 percent on average, said Patrick
Traughber, a Twitter product manager. The reduction will come from
differences such as initially displaying previews of pictures
instead of full pictures.
Like YouTube, Twitter is eyeing India’s 1.3 billion people, and it
timed the release of Twitter Lite in part to coincide with the
start this week of a major cricket event there, the Indian Premier
League’s Twenty20 tournament.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India and following sports in
real time is one of the main ways people use Twitter, which unlike
many other social media networks still has a chronological timeline
to emphasize immediacy.
Other countries where the company said it expects Twitter Lite to
be most useful include Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil,
Argentina and Mexico. — By David Ingram | SAN FRANCISCO
source