MANILA, PHILIPPINES | “Twitter is still the best place to know what’s happening in the world right now in real-time” said Dwi Adriansah, head of Business Development, Southeast Asia and Australia, Twitter Indonesia. And for those users wanting the latest news at the moment such statement is very much true.
As a result, Twitter announced a strategic collaboration with Globe Telecom and Smart Communications to provide daily entertainment updates via Twitter Lite to help Filipinos stay updated on what’s happening with their favorite showbiz personalities and be part of the global conversation.
“The Philippines is one of our key emerging markets worldwide and we are committed to providing the best way for Filipinos to get live updates in news, entertainment and sports on Twitter,” said Tina Pang, head of Sales, Twitter Southeast Asia. “We are excited to announce Twitter Lite today with our partners Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, to bring a better mobile web experience for Filipinos across the country, especially those in outlying islands and rural areas with network connectivity issues, to stay updated with their favorite Filipino idols.”
Twitter executives also said that Twitter Lite will provide a faster, data-friendly and more accessible mobile web experience for Filipinos across the country. It will take up less than 1 MB memory on mobile devices providing up to 70% data saving, 30% faster launch time, through a Progressive Web App technology.
This partnership extends the benefits of Twitter Lite to over 120 million mobile subscribers throughout Philippines.
For the telco’s role, Globe will be promoting Twitter Lite through a custom Twitter timeline t.co/GlobeEntertainment and Twitter data pack through SMS marketing and USSD menu browser to their subscribers, while Smart will offer a custom Twitter timeline t.co/SmartEntertainment and Twitter data pack through SMS marketing to their subscribers, as well as expose Twitter Lite on the Opera browser speed dial.
Twitter executives also said that those on Twitter Lite will enjoy app-like performance such as a wide range of push notifications and offline support without the need for an App Store or Google Play account. The latest version of Twitter Lite adds Poll creation and safety features to block, mute and report, alongside other key features of Twitter on the mobile web experience.
Twitter Lite is available at mobile.twitter.com — on smartphone or tablet in 42 languages including Tagalog. Both partners will also be doing roadshows across the country to support promoting Twitter Lite.