Facebook is preparing to launch a new internal program called '2G Tuesdays,' where employees of the popular social networking site will experience a total slowdown of their internet connection speed. This will be done in order for the company's employees to see how surfing the internet feels like in emerging/developing markets like India and Kenya, where the majority of internet connections are sluggish.
In a statement by a Facebook spokesperson in a report by Mashable, people are coming online on Facebook at a staggering rate in developing markets, and this is done via a 2G connection. However, with such a connection, it can take up to two minutes to download and display a webpage. With the 2G program, the company can understand better how people access Facebook with different connection speeds, which in turn can build a better experience for them.
The program will be opt-in, according to Facebook engineer Tom Alison. Once implemented, a Facebook employee upon logging in will be prompted with a message asking if they want to try out having a slow connection for one hour. "For that next hour, their experience on Facebook will be very much like the experience that millions of people around the world have on Facebook on a 2G connection," states Alison. "They're going to see the places that we need to improve our product, but they're also going to see the places where we have made a lot of progress."
Alison foresees that many employees will sign up to be a part of the program, so the company will know what the internet feels like in different places, especially where connections are slow, and be able to report issues and formulate new ideas to optimize the Facebook experience.
Back in late June, the company launched 'Facebook Lite,' for the Philippines and India, which helps people in these developing countries access the social networking site better.
Source: Mashable | Image via Facebook HQ
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