Facebook Teaches Employees Empathy With Throttled Internet

When consistently using high-speed Internet services, it can be easy to forget just how terrible truly slow Internet speeds are. Facebook has been targeting emerging markets, and has released apps for those markets that use very little data. Still, to help its employees properly sympathize with the Internet experience had in rural India, the social network has introduced "2G Tuesdays", which is exactly what it sounds like.

For many smartphone owners throughout the world, 2G is the Internet speed available, and it is a continually frustrating experience. Web pages take a long time to load, errors surface all over the place, and apps don't always function the way they're supposed to. Developing an app for those markets is difficult, though, if the developers aren't properly familiar with what their users are experiencing.

That's where 2G Tuesdays come in, an optional experience that will be offered to Facebook workers when they access the company's app on Tuesdays. They'll be prompted to choose whether they want to use the app for a full hour at the slower speed; if they choose "yes", the app will run the way it would on a 2G network, revealing what many Facebook users' experience is.

This has benefits beyond just helping employees empathize, of course; it will also help surface issues with the app that might need more focus, and will also highlight the ways in which Facebook's efforts are paying off. If you yourself are on a slower Internet connection, be sure to check out the Facebook Lite app, which greatly improves its performance.

VIA: Business Insider