Facebook on Friday announced the arrival of Messenger Rooms, a new video-calling feature that allows up to 50 people to be on the same video call at the same time.
The arrival of Messenger Rooms is a clear indicator that Facebook is worried about the popularity of Zoom and the recent surge in video calling apps as huge parts of the world are under lockdown.
Messenger Rooms is in direct competition to Zoom, and Houseparty, both of which have seen their user base rise exponentially.
Users could previously use the video calling feature on Messenger and talk to a maximum of eight people in a group call, as compared to 50 now.
In comparison, Zoom allows up to 100 participants for the free package, whereas Houseparty has a limit of eight participants.
Messenger Rooms is easy to operate. You can create a room from Messenger or even Facebook and invite your friends to join the video call.
They can join the call even if they don't have a Facebook account. Rooms can be shared through News Feed, Groups, and Events on Facebook.
Facebook also says that they will soon create ways to create these rooms from Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, and even Portal.
Messenger Rooms also offers some Zoom-like features with “immersive 360 backgrounds and mood lighting”.
Just like Houseparty, Rooms also gives you the ability to lock the room. Another advantage is that you can choose who can see your room and you can kick someone out of the room as well.
Messenger Rooms is currently rolling out to some countries and will soon expand to the rest of the world.
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