Facebook to launch Reactions on Facebook Lite and other updates

In order to familiarize and accustom their community in India with the Facebook family of products and platforms, the company hosted Facebook Hotspot, an interactive experience in Delhi on 26th April and in Mumbai on 28th April.

Facebook is built on the principle of connecting people from all over the world, and with every product from the social media giant, they have laboured to build experiences that not only connect people with other people, but has also provided brands with a platform to interact with their consumers.

With a host of services and features on offer from Facebook such as Facebook Live, Facebook Lite, Full Camera, 360 Photos, Groups, Events, Oculus, Instagram, WhasApp as well as their suite of safety and security tools including Safety Check, Community Help, Safety Center, Parents Portal, Bullying Prevention Hub and Suicide Prevention tools, were the three themes that the event was pivoted around, Me, My Community and My World.

The company has kept no secrets regarding their emphasis on India as a crucial market for them, and have reinforced this claim by introducing Facebook Lite, a stripped down version of the core Facebook app providing access to millions with poor internet connectivity or outdated devices.

Accompanying the Hotspot event, there were also a few updates made by Facebook, some of which happen to be highly exclusive to India since the country contributes close to 184 million users to Facebook’s massive user base of 1.8 billion.

Facebook is introducing their highly successful update, Reactions, on Facebook Lite, offering a wider range of emotions for Lite users to express themselves through. Since Reactions were launched by Facebook, they have been used more than 300 billion times, with the ‘Love’ Reaction being most popular.

Facebook Stories, the ephemeral feature from the company is being upgraded with some local camera effects as the social network pushes for more picture and video based interaction in India by introducing a Namaste expression and geo filters for Indian metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, and more.

Facebook Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg shared a letter with the Facebook Community talking about Facebook and its role in building relationships with users, connecting people from all over the world , and the social network’s power to build a global community beyond borders.

“With that foundation, our next focus will be developing the social infrastructure for the community -- for supporting us, for keeping us safe, for informing us, for civic engagement, and for inclusion of all that will bring us together as a global community so we can have the most positive impact in the world.”

Facebook Product Manager, Adit Vaidya delves into the Facebook family of apps at the Facebook Hotspot event in Mumbai. See the video to find out more.

How involved are you in the Facebook community? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.