For many users in emerging markets, Facebook is their internet. They rely on it for news, entertainment, community updates, and local commerce.
However, the existing menu created multiple barriers:
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Users couldn’t see what was inside each section without tapping into it.
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Deep navigation caused confusion and drop-offs.
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Every unnecessary page load carried a cost for users on limited data plans.
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Friction between curiosity and content: Nothing in the menu encouraged exploration or surfaced what was relevant now.
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Several people often share the same device, and the menu didn’t allow switching between users easily.
The Menu Didn’t Support How Users Actually Used Facebook
To address these challenges, I proposed evolving the bookmarks menu into a content-first experience that surfaces relevant information at a glance, without sacrificing performance or simplicity.
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Lightweight previews of videos, events, and Marketplace items.
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Real-time snippets increase relevance and encourage exploration.
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Simple patterns make navigation intuitive.
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Optimized for low-end devices and limited bandwidth.
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Users can switch accounts easily on shared devices.
This redesign reframed the bookmarks menu from a static list into a contextual discovery surface, empowering exploration, and better supporting users who rely on Facebook Lite as their main window into the digital world.
Transform Navigation Into Lightweight Discovery
Facebook Lite
Meta
Facebook Lite is a streamlined version of Facebook built to perform reliably in regions with low connectivity and on low-end devices.
Facebook Lite is a lightweight version of Facebook designed for regions with low bandwidth and low-end devices. I was asked to explore how the existing bookmarks hamburger menu could better support users in emerging markets. At the time, it functioned only as a static list of links, despite research showing that for many users in these regions, Facebook is their primary - sometimes only - gateway to the internet.
Overview
As a Facebook Lite user in an emerging market, I need to quickly understand what content is available across different Facebook surfaces so that I can discover videos, events, and marketplace items without navigating through multiple screens or consuming unnecessary data.