The first is caching posts that have been downloaded but not yet viewed.
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Facebook is testing an updated News Feed for Android users, aimed at allowing those in developing markets to view content even when their connection isn’t strong. These features will see a broader rollout after Facebook is done testing them, and gathering user feedback.
“In the past, if you were on a poor Internet connection or had no connection, you might need to wait for stories to load when you opened News Feed”, said Facebook. Users will be able to read the stories that they have previously missed, while new items are loaded in the background. So next time you are anxious about missing out on commenting on a post due to your poor network connectivity, just type in your comment and it will get posted automatically once your connection resumes. Facebook will also do the hard work of ranking relevant, already downloaded stories upon startup of the app, as well as when you navigate to News Feed from the app, or perhaps refresh the stories at the top of your feed by pulling it down, or while you perform a simple scroll through of your News Feed. You may be knocked offline in a subway tunnel, or live in a part of the world where fast internet access is rare.
Brendan Sullivan, product marketing manager for emerging markets at Facebook, said: “As the user base for Facebook has grown, the biggest area of growth has become worldwide or emerging markets”. The majority of the populace is connecting to the internet via an Android device – mobile-wise; and connection is incredibly slow for today’s standards. “People are coming online at a staggering rate in emerging markets and, in most cases, are doing so on mobile via 2G connections”.
Facebook has gone over the one billion users mark, but there’s untapped potential in Asia. That’s a 46 percent growth for the Philippines and a 18 percent growth for Indonesia – compared to last year’s numbers.
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