14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has launched a new mobile site aimed at a very specific market. Dubbed 0.facebook.com, the new site is labeled as being fast and free. It’s an even more stripped-down version of the regular Facebook mobile site and it is being offered only through operators with which the social network has partnered. The main selling point is that it incurs no data charges for the users as long as they stay within 0.facebook.com.
“Today, we are launching another way for people to access Facebook anytime, anywhere: 0.facebook.com. 0.facebook.com is a new mobile site that includes all of the key features of Facebook but is optimized for speed. It initially is available through more than 50 mobile operators in 45 countries and territories with zero data charges,” Sid Murlidhar, a program manager for Facebook Mobile, announced.
0.facebook.com offers a basic but complete experience. Users will get access to their news feed and will be able to update their status. All the regular actions like commenting or liking an entry will also be available. They will also be able to send and receive messages, basically all of the core Facebook functionality will be available. The only thing missing are photos, which won’t be displayed on 0.facebook.com. Users will be able to view them if they want, but regular data charges will occur.
The new product is aimed especially at developing countries where smartphones capable of displaying the Facebook site, even the stripped-down mobile version, are a luxury. What’s more, slow Internet speeds and prohibitively expensive mobile data charges make the site even more inaccessible.
Yet, mobile phones abound in these places and are more common than PCs. The potential market is huge and Facebook wants a piece of it. By partnering with operators, it can offer access to 0.facebook.com for free, opening the doors for another surge in user numbers. Already, 100 million of Facebook’s reported 400 million users are accessing the site from their mobile phones, many exclusively so.