Facebook launched a stripped-down version of its popular social networking site that the company said is easier to use and requires less bandwidth to download.
Facebook Lite, which some users have been trying out on an invite-only basis for several weeks, went live Thursday in the U.S. and India. The new site is geared toward users in parts of the world with network bandwidth constraints and new users who might be put off by the feature-clogged pages of the main Facebook site.
Functionality on the new site, which Facebook is calling a "public preview," is largely limited to browsing other people's profiles, confirming friend requests, writing on walls and posting photos. Current Facebook users can get into the site using their password while new users must create an account.
Some observers have said Facebook Lite is somewhat similar to Facebook Mobile, which has attracted 65 million active users since its 2006 launch. But some wags have also noted that Facebook Lite is not unlike Twitter, that other social networking Web site.
Thursday Facebook also added the ability to tag friends and groups with status updates and other posts as they now tag friends to identify them in photos, videos and notes. Facebook announced the addition in a blog post Thursday.
