If you have been following the news, you should be aware that Facebook Lite is meant to penetrate into areas where internet access is weak.
From our simple analysis, Facebook Lite seems to be working as we saw Facebook gain an additional 2 million unique visits last month.
If you think Twitter is going to be a bystander, you are wrong. It has also created its own “Lite” version, which focuses on the Indian population. It is a partnership with Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile operator in India, with 110 million people on its network!
With SMS, Twitter can connect us to millions of people. That idea itself has brought social networking to a higher and unrivaled level.
More about this new service:
“Bharti Airtel is offering people in every city, every village, every remote taluk and even the smallest panchayat the opportunity to connect to Twitter and enjoy the open exchange of information with no added fees. We are proud to have Bharti Airtel as our partner. Give Twitter a try with your Airtel phone by sending START to 53000.”
Users will only be charged at the standard SMS rate for outgoing updates.
A Great Business Strategy
I’m not sure how much it cost for Twitter to support this new partnership, but it does seem like a sound business strategy as benefits outweigh the costs.
Everyone wants to have a slice of the two most populated countries, India and China, and Twitter is no different!
If it is able to gain a strong foothold in India (1.14 billion!), it could overtake Facebook, which currently has only 4.5 million users in India.
