Facebook is going with a new tactic to better understand its users. It is dubbed "2G Tuesdays" and is designed to make Facebook developers feel how it is to use a super slow internet connection while using the app.
Basically, "2G Tuesdays" runs for an hour only every Tueday and the internet speed of the developers is slowed down drastically, Time noted. Of course, this is completely voluntary and is no way permanent.
The point is that there are hundreds of millions of new (and old) users which have to deal with this kind of connection. In places like India and Africa, the number of Facebook continues to rise with no perceptible change in internet speed. When asked for comment, a Facebook representative gave Tech Crunch this reply:
"People are coming online at a staggering rate in emerging markets and, in most cases, are doing so on mobile via 2G connections. But on the lower end of 2G networks, it can take about two minutes to download a webpage. We need to understand how people use Facebook in different internet connections in all parts of the world so we can build the best experience for them,"
Additionally, Facebook's engineering director Tom Alison said that new measure "definitely tested my patience... it felt like parts of the product were just broken." This is certainly valuable insight as the problem of slow internet is a reality 24/7 in these areas.
Facebook has always been conscious about its global users and has made efforts to streamline its services. For example, a stripped-down version of the app was made available last summer to Android users in emerging markets. Internet.org is also available for these same markets as well, NBC reported.
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