Facebook Gives Employees Chance to Slow Down With 2G Internet

— -- Facebook is giving its employees the chance to purposefully slow down their Internet connection to a simulated 2G speed to help them better understand what it's like to use the social network in emerging markets where connectivity is slower.

The program -- dubbed "2G Tuesdays" -- lets employees choose if they want to slow down their Internet speed for an hour using Facebook's augmented traffic control tool, according to a post from Facebook product manager Chris Marra. The result can be a maddeningly slow experience for people who are used to a high-speed connection.

"People are coming online at a fast rate in emerging markets. In most cases, they are doing so on mobile via 2G connections. But on a typical 2G network, it can take several minutes to download a webpage. That doesn't make for a great experience when sharing content with friends and family," Marra wrote. "To build for a global audience like ours, we know that we need to design features that work seamlessly even on a 2G network."

Earlier this year, Facebook launched a stripped down version of its app -- called Facebook Lite -- geared toward Android users in emerging markets. The Facebook Lite app is designed to work efficiently on a 2G network and areas with limited service, providing users with a faster Facebook experience that won't chip away at their data plans.