Twitter has been trying hard to embrace its mobile users better, and it's still on the move.
Twitter has nearly four times as many monthly active users outside the U.S. as it does in its home market. And apparently, most of its users aren't yet benefiting from fast and stable internet connections, or able to afford high-end smartphones.
To boost the number of its mobile users on those specific market, Twitter is testing Twitter Lite app for Android.
Twitter confirmed that the app is being run initially in test mode in the Philippines. Users in the country can see a separate app in the Google Play Store for devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop and up.
"The test of the Twitter Lite app in the Google Play Store in the Philippines is another opportunity to increase the availability of Twitter in this market," explained a Twitter spokesperson. "The Philippines market has slow mobile networks and expensive data plans, while mobile devices with limited storage are still very popular there. Twitter Lite helps to overcome these barriers to usage for Twitter in the Philippines."
As this is a test, he further described the app as "an experiment” and that Twitter is still evaluating whether to launch it in further markets.
The app itself appears to have many of the same basic functions of the original Twitter app with breaking news, sports scores, and entertainment updates. Users can interact with brands and government, and can also easily market their businesses, quickly provide or receive customer service and options to view Timeline, Notifications, the Explore tab, Messages and to customize their profile.
Twitter Lite app has a smaller size (1MB installation size, and under 3MB after installed), launches 30 percent faster and uses up to 70 percent less data. The Lite version supports both English language and Filipino, and is usable on both 2G and 3G networks.
In short, it's meant to be especially useful for emerging markets.
Twitter tweaks the app so it would be less of a data hog for users. For example, users can switch to a media-free mode to be able to select specific images and videos for downloading.
While giving users the option of which media they would like to actually see is a pretty crucial feature for emerging markets, the app can also be potentially unusable (frustrating) for users.
Previously, the microblogging company created Twitter Lite using Progressive Mobile App (PWA) to make its website behave and act like native apps, but without being an app.