Facebook Lite for Android targets emerging markets

Facebook Inc. launched a new Android application for social networking service that uses less data and runs faster in regions with irregular connections.

The application, called Facebook Lite, is available in Asia and will soon make its way to parts of Latin America, Africa and Europe, Vijay Shankar, product manager for Facebook Lite, he said in an interview. In many of these countries, people still use 2G networks, which are much slower and have less power than 4G networks in many developed countries.

"We want to offer people a choice so if there are limitations can still get the full experience of Facebook," Shankar said.

The application uses less than half a megabyte of data to limit the use of data and the rates of emerging markets. Although still supports Facebook news, status updates, notifications and photos, that it does not support advanced video and location services.

Facebook Lite is part of the largest expansion of the social media network in the world in emerging markets. Earlier this year, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, announced Internet.org, a platform developed with six partners from technology to connect today 4,500,000,000 people without Internet access.