State of Media: Instagram Lite

Facebook has recently released Instagram Lite, a less data intensive social media app to help their users save space on mobile devices. This new version of Instagram was launched in 170 countries, mainly focused on those that are considered emerging markets or developing countries which typically have less mobile phone storage capacity and slower internet speeds.

The new app for Android was designed for people in more rural or remote areas the opportunity to still experience Instagram, but with minimal data. Instagram Lite takes up just 2MB of data compared to the 30MB of the full Instagram app.

Michelle Lourie, a Tel-Aviv Facebook Product Manager, began working with her team in Israel remotely as well as collaborated with the New York office to develop the lighter app which comes with less features than full Instagram. However, they kept in tact some of the features that users cared most about, such as the ability to edit and share photos. The teams, through user input learned, pivoted quickly to include additional features, such as “dark mode” which replaces the white app background with black text with a black background with gray text instead.

So what does this mean for marketers? For global businesses that currently make sales or reach target consumers in developing countries, there is an opportunity to potentially reach even more users on Instagram now than there was before. More social media users in emerging markets will be able to download and use the app due to its smaller storage capacity size of 2MB.

For those companies that only focus on the United States or non-emerging markets, there is not much of a need to alter or change social media strategies. Instead, it is worth a consideration as a business case to better understand how a major company, such as Facebook, understood a need for their users, found a way to address it, developed a product specifically for them, utilized key insights through surveys and social listening, and improved it quickly.

Following these steps are are how businesses become continuously successful, increase in market share, and make a notable name for their name within their industry. Think about your own product line for a moment. How else can you improve what you already offer to meet an existing segment? What other opportunities for usage and revenue are being left untapped for your business?