Facebook Lite Review

I thought that I would jump into the fray by posting a short review of "Facebook lite."

Facebook lite is a stripped down version of Facebook that is now available in India and the U.S. for testing purposes. Facebook has claimed that the alternative website is for those with slower connections, but I am not completely convinced that this is Facebook's only (or even primary) aim. Of course, people are comparing the altered site to Twitter. While I think that the two sites are completely different in level of functionality and in their uses, I do see Facebook lite, at least in part, as an attempt by Facebook to compete in the microblogging realm.

First though, let me tell you what isn't working in Facebook lite. As best I can tell, everything under the 'Settings' tab with the exception of selecting the language that the site is displayed in is nonfunctioning. These aren't things that are stripped out, they just aren't implemented yet. What I like though is that the way in which things are laid out in the Settings tab suggests that Facebook is finally getting serious about their promise to simplify their nightmare-inducing-settings-dialogues.

Facebook lite is also lacking in many features that it's big brother has. How many of these are actually purposeful (and not just unimplimented) is your guess, as some of the missing features are not just bloat. These features include lists, chat, applications (thank God), the ability to post links (as anything other than plain hyperlinks without image preview), the ability to record video (you can upload video but I couldn't find an option to record straight from my webcam) and the ability to post anything like videos or pictures directly onto another user's wall. Perhaps many of these are lacking because, again, Facebook touts this as low bandwidth.

Facebook lite also represents a stylistic change. the "Home" link at the top has been removed (one clicks on the Facebook logo to go home) as has the "Friends" link. Added to the top is a link to "Events." When viewing a person's profile, the links "Wall" and "Info" now appear on the left instead of the top along with a new link to "Friends" and a combined link to "Photos and Video."

When looking at a picture the comments appear on the right side instead of underneath the picture, and as with the rest of the site photos do not appear next to those who comment on content (photos also do not appear in the search bar).

My impression is that Facebook lite is a good idea that is in need of a lot more work. This shouldn't be surprising in a beta, but I truly believe some of the changes necessary are very fundamental. I would love to see the "People you may know" section removed in favor of "Events," or a simplified notifications pane as is in use on the regular iteration of Facebook. Yes, I know that "Events" is now big and bold at the top, but I liked the quick overview. Notifications are also now a lot more informative (and moved to a different page), but it wouldn't hurt, again, to see an overview. Additionally, the inability to record video directly from my webcam or post videos or pictures on a friends wall is unacceptable. This is so simple and wouldn't require that much extra interface distraction (which I know "lite" aims to minimize).

Not all of the changes are bad though. Removing applications is a Godsend. Applications are ruining the Facebook experience, and they have almost driven me away completely on multiple occasions. I should never have to see a single word about an application (especially ones I don't choose to seek out). I do also think that the "Photos & Video" interface is much improved (with the comments on the side for simultaneously viewing and typing, etc). The best change though is the speed at which Facebook lite loads. It's much faster that it's big brother.

Overall I would say that Facebook lite is a good alternative for those who want to rid their lives of Facebook Apps. The inability to control posted content in as fine-grained a way as on Facebook proper is a sacrifice I shouldn't have to make, but one I likely will (because of my hatred of Apps).

Now the community just needs to wait for a Greasemonkey script to make a good thing better, and hope that Facebook brings a few more things over. I would love to run a Greasemonkey script to get rid of the "People you may know" section as well as the advertisements.

EDIT: As an additionI must report that I have had no success being able to remove status updates. If you update your status and click to remove it, you will be taken to a blank page and the status will need to be removed using facebook proper. Very annoying. Additionally, I found no way to exclude certain friends' updates from appearing in my news feed.. so you will have to deal with all of your more annoying friends even if you don't have to deal with application and quiz related annoyances. Boy does lite need some work.