SAN FRANCISCO — The Internet was buzzing Wednesday with talk of Facebook testing a streamlined "Lite" version of the social-networking service that could challenge microblogging sensation Twitter.

"We are currently testing a simplified alternative to Facebook.com that loads a specific set of features quickly and efficiently," the Internet star said in reply to an AFP inquiry.

"Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook Lite is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept Friend requests, write on people's Walls, and look at photos and Status updates."

Facebook Lite is being tested in India and other countries where new users flooding to the service "are looking to start off with a more simple experience," according to the Palo Alto, California-based firm.

A test website at lite.facebook.com was accidently opened to an expanded audience on Tuesday night, but the slip was caught and traffic routed to standard Facebook pages.

Invitations to take part in a private test of "Facebook Lite" evidently reached a variety of US bloggers only to have the enclosed links vanish a short time later.

"Lite" screen shots captured and posted online revealed a Facebook page devoted to fresh comments and updates from friends in a style that could challenge the real-time interplay at Twitter.

Facebook announced on Monday that it has acquired FriendFeed, a Silicon Valley startup which allows members to see what their friends are doing online and share content.

Facebook said that the 12 employees of the Mountain View, California-based FriendFeed will join Facebook and its four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams.

The acquisition of FriendFeed and testing of "Facebook Lite" follows social-networking star's failed attempt last year to buy Twitter.

FriendFeed has been described as a potential rival to Twitter in its ability to conduct real-time search, an area where Facebook has been seeking to expand.

Facebook is the fastest growing social network on the Internet and has more than 250 million members.

We just broke the news earlier tonight that Facebookfacebookfacebook is launching a newer, simplified version of the Facebook platform, called Facebook Lite. This news comes only a day after Facebook made its blockbuster acquisition of FriendFeed and rolled out its Realtime Facebook Search. You may be asking yourself “what the heck is Facebook Lite?” or maybe “why would Facebook launch a stripped-down version of its website?” We’re here to answer those questions, and we have screenshots of the new Facebook Lite to help us out.

1. What is Facebook Lite?
A: It is a completely stripped-down version of the Facebook platform. From what we can tell, it is almost like a TwitterTwitterTwitter stream: you can see your most recent status updates and the updates of your friends. There is a left-hand navigation with four main categories: Wall, Info, Friends, and Photos & Videos. It does little more than that.

2. What does Facebook Lite look like?
A: Here is what we believe to be a screenshot of Facebook Lite, courtesy of Hacker NewsHacker NewsHacker News:


Very stripped down, very basic, very reminiscient of Twitter and FriendFeedFriendFeedFriendFeed.

3. Is this Facebook integrating with FriendFeed?
A: Most likely not. The deal is still new to integrate their technologies in this way, and we’re hearing reports that these tests have been ongoing for the last 2-3 days. That would put its development well before the FriendFeed acquisition

4. What’s the point of Facebook Lite?
A: Speculation says it’s a direct assault on Twitter. Facebook continues to find ways to make itself competitive with Twitter. This is why Facebook has been launching features such as public profiles, profile fans, public status updates, and realtime search. Twitter is simple, so Facebook’s fighting back with the same.

However, we don’t know for sure. They may just be making a speedier version for slow connections. We’ll find out more from the Facebook team soon.

5. How can I access it?
A: It’s a limited test for only a subset of users. The fact that thousands, if not millions of users got the test notice was a bug. Most likely Facebook will open up the test to more users very soon, especially since everybody now knows about it.


We’ve contacted Facebook and are awaiting a response on this development. In the meantime, we want to hear your thoughts. Do you think it’s a good idea? What do you think is the social network’s goal is with Facebook Lite? And will people use it?