There’s a famous saying about walking in someone’s shoes and Facebook is now using that philosophy to help their employees make better services for emerging markets where Internet connection isn’t that fast. So they are now launching a company-wide initiative called “2G Tuesdays” to be able to close the “empathy gap” between the Silicon Valley and other markets that mostly exist on 2G connections. They will be able to experience first hand what it is to read and use the social network on that network.
For people who are so used to having a daily fast connection (and who sometimes complain when their 4G becomes 3G), it will be a jarring experience to suddenly see how the 2G world lives. And seeing how millions of people all over the world live with this connection might spark some ideas in the employees to further improve access to Facebook even if you’re on that slow network.
Engineering director Tom Alison and his team have been reworking the Newsfeed product so that people will still be able to read and use Facebook even if they are on super slow networks. In fact, the team regularly use 2G connected smartphones and some are even sent to these emerging markets like India and Kenya. But since not everyone can travel, here they are with “2G Tuesdays”. Employees will see a prompt on their desktops every Tuesday morning, asking them if they’d like to try out 2G for an hour or so.
Earlier this month, Facebook introduced Network Connection Class which takes into account the network connection you’re in and also the device you’re using to determine what you’ll see on your newsfeed. This is one of the things they’re working on in order to bring better access to the social media network outside of the 4G (and even sometimes 3G) world.
VIA: Business Insider
