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Thousands of night owl Facebook users got a surprise Tuesday night when they logged in and got a message saying they’d been chosen to beta test the new “Facebook Lite,” which was billed as a “faster, simpler” Facebook.  But just as suddenly as the “new” Facebook appeared it vanished, leaving only the several “Facebook Lite Sucks!” groups that had almost immediately popped up in protest as evidence it had even existed.

It turns out the new Facebook was a mistake, at least for U.S. members.  This new part of Facebook was meant for areas where high speed broadband connections are the exception rather than the rule.  Facebook says they want it to be similar to the way the site looks when accessed from a mobile phone.  Those who saw the new site before it was yanked said it looked very much like of all things, a Twitter page, with just wall postings and status updates on it.  Apps, Features, and Events were all missing.  Facebook claims it is not trying to compete with Twitter, but their recent purchase of FriendFeed says otherwise.

“Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook ‘Lite’ is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept Friend requests, write on people’s Walls, and look at photos and Status updates. We are currently testing Facebook Lite in countries where we are seeing lots of new users coming to Facebook for the first time and are looking to start off with a more simple experience.”  Facebook said in a statement to ABC News.

What do you think?  I think it looks a lot like Twitter!

Read [ABCNews]