There is a lesser-known version of Facebook Messenger out there and it’ll save you data usage…and therefore, money.
A year after it first launched in some places, the Facebook Messenger Lite app is now available in even more countries, according to the Independent.
What is the ‘lite’ version? It’s a ‘slimmed-down, faster and more efficient’ messenger which sees the likes of Facebook stories and GIFs abolished, therefore saving a load of data and hassle.
The ‘lite’ version also means you save space on your phone.
Bad news for some of you though, Facebook Messenger Lite is only available for most people with an Android phone as there’s still no iOS version.
Android users can keep both the ‘lite’ and full-sized version of the Facebook Messenger app for when they need to send and receive GIFs.
Wired explains Facebook first launched Lite a year ago, and it was intended for markets whose temperamental or low-bandwidth internet connections would ‘collapse under the weight of the full version’.
The article reads:
If you’re a Messenger power user, well, frankly you haven’t read this far because you’ve already switched back to your Word With Friends game.
But everyone else: Switch to Lite.
You can still get in touch with anyone who has a Facebook account. You can still make free calls over wifi. You can still give a thumbs up.
But you can do it all without feeling like you’ve been dropped inside a digital labyrinth, a social (media) experiment to see just how many times you can tap your screen without actually accomplishing anything.
Facebook has made a number of changes over the past few months as well.
If you’re not already aware, they launched the Snooze Button – it allows users to temporarily unfollow individuals, pages, and groups for periods of 24 hours, a week, or 30 days.
Nice!
A Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch:
We’re testing new ways to give people control over their ‘News Feeds’ so they can stay connected with the stories they find most relevant.
This may come in handy during periods of social unrest or during elections or perhaps when you don’t want to be bombarded with opinions.
In other words, it’s handy pretty much all of the time, because Facebook is full of it.
Facebook is, once again, offering you a way to get rid of annoying friends. The ‘see fewer posts like this’ button fills a similar requirement.
If you’ve updated your Facebook app since early last month, because I haven’t, you’ll have noticed it looks very different thanks to the social media site introducing more changes.
The changes include; increased colour contrast to make the typography more legible, larger link previews so text is easier to read and bigger ‘like, comment and share buttons’.
Circular profile pictures have also been introduced. Snazzy.
Product design manager Shali Nguyen and design director Ryan Freitas explained the changes on Facebook’s official site:
Every person’s News Feed is different and populated with a unique set of stories — from photos and videos to GIFs and links.
And with so many types of stories available, each feed is more complex than ever.
In order to make News Feed more conversational and easier to read and navigate, we’ll be making a few updates to its design over the coming weeks.
We’re always working to help people have more lively and expressive conversations on Facebook.
More and more, comments have become the way to have conversations about a post with other people.
We’ve updated our comment style and made it easier to see which comments are direct replies to another person.
