Facebook officially launched "Messenger Rooms" on April 25. In a livestream video, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg describes this feature as a "group video chat designed with social interactions in mind."
This new roll-out is part of Zuckerberg's video-focused plan for Facebook where he stresses the need for video chats to evolve in this pandemic. He tells The Verge in an interview that he's currently prioritizing "products that are helping people stay connected better. I'm very focused on remote presence: being able to feel like you’re with a person even when you can’t physically be there."
Now, curious as to what Messenger Rooms can do for you while in quarantine?
Here's everything you need to know about Messenger Rooms:
You can add up to 50 people in a Messenger Room
Messenger Rooms is Facebook's foray into virtual realms occupied now by apps like Houseparty and Zoom. This new Facebook feature lets people join in a group call within a "room" with up to 50 people.
It can be used for any activity or event
If your birthday is coming up, you can host a party through Messenger Rooms. You can also use it for other fun social gatherings. Zuckerberg says, "you can start a room for any activity—whether you're hosting celebrations, game nights, book clubs, or just have some time to hang out."
You can start a room using the Facebook app or Messenger app
There's no need to download a separate app to try Messenger Rooms. You can start a room right from the Facebook app or the Messenger app. The room creator can opt to open it to all or to lock it (like in Houseparty) to prevent uninvited guests from joining.
It will soon be compatible with other social media platforms
Zuckerberg also says that rooms will soon come to Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, and Portal. What's more, you can simply send people a link to your room, "and they can drop in and hang out with you even if they're not on Facebook."
You can see the rooms your friends are currently in
Hate FOMO? "You'll also be able to discover rooms your friends are in at the top of News Feed, and it's easy to drop by and say hi," Zuckerberg adds. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
You can change your background
While in a room, you can activate immersive backgrounds, artificial intelligence-powered filters, and augmented reality features. "There are 360-degree immersive backgrounds that make you feel like you’re in another place and features like artificial intelligence-powered mood lighting—all things to make your video experience better and make you feel closer to the people and things you care about," Zuckerberg said in an interview with Good Morning America. Additionally, the augmented reality filters can help brighten up dark rooms or even touch up your appearances.
You can stay in a room for as long as you want
Yup, you won't be constricted with time limits—you can stay in a room for as long as you want! This feature lets users forego scheduling online meet ups. Zuckerberg writes on a Facebook post, "You don't need to schedule time to hang out like other video conferencing tools," you can just pop in and out and interact with people who are also in the same room.
Facebook does not view or listen to calls
With privacy issues surfacing for apps like Zoom, Facebook has extended its measures to ensure their users' privacy. The Verge reports, "Room calls are not end-to-end encrypted, but Facebook says it does not view or listen to calls."
You can report rooms to Facebook and boot people out of rooms
You can also report rooms (where illicit behaviors are taking place) to Facebook. Further, for groups where people don't know each other well, its room creators can easily boot out participants at any time. Zuckerberg says in an interview, "A lot of the time that I’ve spent on this has been on privacy, security, integrity reviews, and how do we make sure that a lot of the use cases that that have been problematic around Zoom are not going to be things that are replicated here."
The new video call feature is currently being rolled out
The new feature was released on Friday, April 24, and is currently being rolled out globally. "We're testing Rooms in a few countries now and plan to roll it out globally over the coming weeks," Zuckerberg shares.
Check out Facebook's new updates in the video below: