NEW YORK: Facebook has announced its plan to officially launch Facebook Lite -a slimmer version of the social networking website for Android that uses less data - that would work well even in poor network conditions.

Facebook has been incubating Facebook Lite for more than a year under project manager Vijay Shankar, Wired.com reported.

The team was testing the app in South-east Asia and Africa since January.

According to Shankar, the response to the app was good.

"App reviews suggest people want it in their countries," he was quoted as saying.

His remarks came against the background of Facebook Lite garnering more than four stars and 50,000 reviews on the Google Play app store.

At less than one megabyte, Facebook Lite is quick to install and to use.

"All the core experiences and how you come to use them in your main app will work and look and feel the same."

There will be a few small design changes though.

Facebook Lite will be rolled out in a few countries in Asia to start with, and would expand to Latin America, Africa and Europe in the coming weeks.

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