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If you burn through your mobile data plan faster than you can say "buffering," Twitter's got a new feature that might help you out. It's called Twitter Lite, a web app version of the microblogging network available for smartphones and tablets that reduces system impact by letting you manually load things like GIFs and images.

While Twitter announced Lite mode as a feature meant for users in regions with slow mobile internet, such as India and Africa , I took advantage of its reduced data option immediately. Twitter says Twitter Lite can reduce usage by up to 70 percent, and that looks like another solid way to make sure I don't pay another surcharge this month.

To try it out, just open mobile.twitter.com in your mobile browser, and you're on Twitter Lite automatically. To save on your data, tap on your profile icon in the top left corner and turn on the switch next to Data Saver. You can even get push notifications from Twitter Lite if you're using in on a mobile version of Chrome or a well-updated browser on the Android platform.

Twitter Lite is also ideal for those with more modest phones with minimal free space, as it takes up less than 1MB of storage. Twitter claims this mode is snappier than the traditional version, "with up to 30% faster launch times" than what you're used to.

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