Facebook launches Facebook Zero, a text-only mobile site

Facebook's mobile-optimized site just keeps getting better with time. The UI gets easier to navigate, the features just keep piling up, and it's a pretty sweet deal for smartphone users. But what if you're on a limited data plan, a slow network, or a phone that's ... well, not so smart? That's where Facebook Zero comes in.

Zero is a lightweight, (mostly) text-only version of the popular social network. It's designed to make Facebook more accessible, but also as a kind of gateway drug that mobile carriers can offer their users to tempt them into signing up for unlimited data plans and phones with better browsers. Looks like a smart move for both Facebook and whichever mobile partners get on board with Zero.

You can already check it out by pointing any browser to zero.facebook.com. Although you'll probably get a message saying your carrier doesn't support it yet, you can play around with it anyway.

Update: Seems I was mistaken. No carriers support Zero yet. I was just seeing the regular Facebook mobile site. Drop us a tip if you notice your mobile provider has rolled Zero out!

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: facebook, facebook zero, FacebookZero, mobile, text-only