What is Facebook Lite (beta)?

Facebook is currently testing a “lite” version of the social networking service with select members to provide feedback. The website for Facebook Lite is,

lite.facebook.com

From Facebook:

“We are currently testing a simplified alternative to Facebook.com that loads a specific set of features quickly and efficiently. Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook “Lite” is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept Friend requests, write on people’s Walls, and look at photos and Status updates. We are currently testing Facebook Lite in countries where we are seeing lots of new users coming to Facebook for the first time and are looking to start off with a more simple experience.

This evening, the test was temporarily exposed to a larger set of users by mistake. We have not opened up access to lite.facebook.com to all users at this time. People who are not part of the test and are trying to access “Lite” will be directed to Facebook.com as usual.”

The Facebook Lite page looks very similar to a Twitter style page, where most of the usage is done vertically – and there is not a lot of clicking around to do. Right now, feedback is coming back more negative or neutral, as most find it the same as the regular Facebook.