A few minutes into a library study session, students convince themselves that eliminating the urge to check Facebook now will be more productive than trying to push the thought out the mind while they study.

What to do? Enter Facebook Lite.

Facebook Lite is the faster, simpler version of the site that has gone relatively unknown since its release.

It was designed for people in areas where Internet connections are slow, and who are new to the site and desire a less complicated experience.

Facebook Lite became available Aug. 12, when a bug caused invitations to leak to some Facebook users.

“It asked me if I wanted to be a beta tester, like it popped up on my homepage,” said Jean King, a Fenton junior. “I opened it to see what it was, but I only did it the one time.”

The site officially launched a public preview late last week for users in Canada, the United States and India.

At first glance, Facebook Lite looks like Facebook did years ago. Home pages are neat and are organized around the news feed.

“Once you get used to it, I think it would be a lot simpler,” King said.

Photo and video uploading is still available, though there is no webcam support. You also can still leave comments on items posted by friends, search for people and send messages.

“There’s not so much going on,” King said. “It doesn’t have the pictures and little notifications around the side.”

The home page is missing the left sidebar that filters out specific elements in the news feed, the highlights column on the right side of the page and the box above the news feed that allows you to quickly update your status among other things.

The new site also sacrifices some of Facebook’s more advanced features for practicality. The bar that floats on the bottom of the window containing links to applications, the buddy chat system and notifications are gone, taking all three features with it.

Facebook Lite is not available on cell phones. Facebook Mobile’s SMS service and mobile Web site were created to satisfy the need for fast browsing on mobile devices.

People with Facebook accounts can go to lite.facebook.com and log in with normal account information.

E-mail the author: Darnell Gardner