Social networking giant Facebook this week extended its reach to thousands of lower tier handset models with the launch of a Java-based application created by developer Snaptu.

The Facebook for Feature Phones app should work on more than 2,500 handset models from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and other manufacturers, specifically targeting non-smartphone users. As a result, the app features an easier to navigate home screen, contact synchronisation, and fast scrolling of photos and friend updates. Snaptu believes its app will work on 80 per cent of devices worldwide.

Moreover, Facebook  has signed up 14 mobile operators to allow users to use the app for free – without data charges – for the first 90 days. The company expects to get more carriers on board in the near future.

Operators to have signed up to the agreement already are: Dialog (Sri Lanka), Life (Ukraine), Play (Poland), StarHub (Singapore), STC (Saudi Arabia), Three (Hong Kong), Tunisiana (Tunisia), Viva (Dominican Republic), Vodafone (Romania), Mobilicity (Canada), Reliance (India), Telcel (Mexico), TIM (Brazil), and Vivacom (Bulgaria).