|
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.
(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Bill Trott
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
