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EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! FACEBOOK TO RELEASE ANOTHER VERSION!

Zuckerberg, Time Magazine's 52nd Most Influential Person of 2008.

Yes, you heard (read) correctly. Harvard grad Mark Zuckerberg is testing out another updated version of his social networking brainchild. But before we get into that – haven’t there been enough versions of Facebook in the past couple years alone? Let’s not forget the site started as a way to get Zuckerberg’s (then college sophomore) mind off being dumped. (What?!)

Again, yes, you heard/read correctly. Facebook started…(wait for it)…as a rebound.

Apparently, Harvard used to have a less-glorified version of the current “Hot or Not” application, where pictures of two resident students would be mashed up against each other, and the viewer would pick the one they found more attractive.

Broken hearts make people do strange things. Check out Zuckerberg’s thought process on hacking into the site to start his own social network: (October 2003)

I’m a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it’s not even 10 p.m. and it’s a Tuesday night? What? The Kirkland [dorm] facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics. I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive.

—9:48 pm

Yea, it’s on. I’m not exactly sure how the farm animals are going to fit into this whole thing (you can’t really ever be sure with farm animals . . .), but I like the idea of comparing two people together.

—11:09 pm

Let the hacking begin.

—12:58 pm

[Zuckerberg quotes credit to Rolling Stone Magazine]

And so it began. Zuckerberg called his creation “FaceMash” and spent who-knows how many nights making quick calculations of attraction based off the space between eyebrows and possible acne. Now, somewhere along the line, the name changed to “The Facebook” and eventually just Facebook. Different features were added, like messaging and photo album uploading, and by June 2004, had moved the base of operations to California and was open to most US and Canadian universities.

Now, I opened up a Facebook account in the fall of 2006, when I was a senior in high school. Back then, you could only get an account if you had a verified email address from a college institution (the only reason I had one was from a dual enrollment senior English program at the local community college). The site was relatively simple: you could upload pictures, fill out basic information about yourself, join “group” and message your friends on their profile (though I forget exactly when the term “Wall” came about).

In every year since 2006, a new version of Facebook layoutting and profile enhancers has added to the site’s foundation and reputation. Twitter-like “statuses” ask us “what’s on your mind?” and “applications” like “Bumper Sticker” and “Mafia Wars” recruit more “followers” every day.  [So many quotes...]

All these extra additions to the site put quite a bit of stress on loading connections. For this reason, the new Facebook Lite has been released as a beta testing version. In the screenshot below you can see the simplified version, which focuses on stripping away the layers of applications not related to the intended use of the site as a social network.

Users so far have critiqued it as being similar to Twitter and FriendFeed (which Facebook Inc. recently bought for $50 million – interesting), but the makers deny all these accusations, claiming a rather sympathetic reason for creating the “lite” version.

Despite expanding beyond Harvard campus, Facebook was then still only designed for US and Canadian use. Since then, the site has gone international, though the main base of operations is in California.

Now – since I’m assuming everyone still reading at this point either has a Facebook of their own or knows the general idea of one – who has witnessed the loading problems that have been taking place in the past year or so?

One, two, thr- too many to count.

Now, imagine how that must extend overseas. To take it a step further, imagine the intensity of downloading problems Facebook may have in foreign countries without nationwide access to a high-speed Internet connection. Facebook Lite will serve as a version of the network that’s easier to load and to use.

Though the site is testing in India currently, there are rumors circulating that it will next be opened to Russia and China, says techcrunch.com

Personally, I find the intentions of Facebook Lite pretty sound. However, by the few screenshots I’ve managed to see of the alternate Facebook, it reminds me of the way Facebook used to be before it started adding applications and fan pages. So in a sense, rather than “improving” the site, I see Facebook Lite as the “de-evolution” of the current site.

One final note: I think Facebook Lite will do very well, should it go global. Along with making Facebook more accessible for Internet users with slower connections, Lite will be easier and more straightforward for those in generations older than Zuckerberg.  While plenty of businesses use and reference Facebook, the complexity of the site is hampering to those who’ve never used a tool like a network site before (Example A being my mother, who took 90 minutes to get her account set-up).  Facebook Lite will take away the confusing, unnecessary features while allowing for older users to connect with friends and family in a nearly instantaneous way.
What would you prefer? Facebook Lite or the current version?