Video conferencing is one of the hottest pieces of tech in use right now, and multiple tech companies are rushing to take advantage of the situation and further promote the visibility and usage of their products and services. Facebook recently launched its take on the game streaming industry with its new Facebook Gaming application and has now taken on the video conferencing world with a feature addition to its main instant messaging application: Messenger Rooms.
Messenger Rooms is not a new app from Facebook but rather a new feature in the already-popular Messenger application from the company. Hence, you need not download a separate application to use the feature. A ROOM is simply a virtual space for meeting up with people online over video and offering not too different from Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Houseparty, and many others.
There are, however, a few things to note about Messenger Rooms before jumping in:
- Messenger Rooms is a newly-announced feature and is not available to everyone yet. It’s rolling out gradually, so keep checking your Messenger app to see if it has gotten to you yet.
- You can video chat with up to 50 people in a Messenger Room.
- Unlike Zoom, there is no time limit for Messenger Rooms.
- A Messenger Room can be created only by someone with a Facebook account, but Messenger Rooms can be joined by anyone without a Facebook account.
How to create a Messenger Room
Once the feature is rolled out to you, creating a Room on Facebook Messenger is quite straightforward. Here are the steps involved:
- Launch the Facebook Messenger app on your smartphone.
- On the home screen, select the “People” tab on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.
- On the “People” screen, click the Create a Room option above the active friend’s list. Note that this option will be available only if the feature has been rolled out to you, so if you don’t find it there, then you’ll have to be patient until it’s made available for your account. ( This should happen in the coming weeks, as promised by Facebook.)
Hello
It surprises me when it’s said it is a “recent feature” because I have been using it since pandemics has started. Actually, nowadays Messenger Rooms disappeared from my Messenger last July and I would really like to know why. It was really useful for my classes, and using the regular Messenger is not something I really appreciate because it does not have the same tools as the Rooms. Do you know anything about it? When will it be available again, if so? Thanks!