LinkedIn launched ‘Lite’ version for mobile browsing in India

The initiatives, designed in India, include expanding LinkedIn Placements to students across colleges and universities in the country; a stripped-down mobile website called LinkedIn Lite that is meant to work even in areas with poor connectivity; and a LinkedIn Starter Pack, targeting startups and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). LinkedIn Placements is “an equal opportunity platform” for every student, regardless of their location or college, so that they can have a shot at jobs anywhere in India.

That includes LinkedIn Lite, which is basically a version of the service without any bells or whistles, making it so that it can load faster on weaker Internet connections, specifically in rural area. LinkedIn has tied up with Bengaluru-based startups Aspiring Minds and HackerRank, and Gurgaon-based CoCubes and Wheebox for conducting assessment tests online. It will host a common online assessment test for jobs in 35 domestic and global companies, reported worldwide Business Times. It will be available to all Indian users in the coming weeks. This initiative is now in its pilot launch phase.

LinkedIn’s Lite service does away with heavy stuff like extra graphics, and rich media and download time will go up to 4 times faster, with the home page taking 150KB of data and other pages only 70KB, said the company CEO, Jeff Wenner at the Delhi event.

“These new initiatives help us keep pace with the rising demand for knowledge and access to opportunity”.

Tech companies are increasingly realizing that if they want to make their services more accessible to Indians, they need to adapt to India’s slow internet speeds.

In August, LinkedIn revealed that it had 100 million users in the Asia Pacific region, doubling the numbers in two years.

LinkedIn has more than 37 million members in India. This package is now live at linkedin.com/starterpack and open for applications.

While it mostly focuses on software as of now, LinkedIn Placements’ reach could expand to other avenues as well in the future.

In June, Microsoft has entered into the biggest acquisition agreement, purchasing LinkedIn for a whopping $26.20 billion.