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Facebook launched a new service, ’Messenger Rooms’, which will allow you to find friends in virtual “rooms”, a sign that competition is intensifying around Zoom, the video conferencing platform that has conquered millions of users confined by the pandemic.
Users of the social network can invite up to 50 people, whether or not they have a Facebook accountMark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of the platform, said Friday in the same “room” for as long as they want.
Unlike work video conferencing tools like Zoom, ‘Messenger Rooms’ is designed to socialize with friends and family, whether it’s for birthdays, happy hours, book clubs, or parent groups.
“This is designed to be more fortuitous and spontaneous,” said Zuckerberg.
“I just keep a window open on my computer or phone and people who I couldn’t normally avoid calling enter there.”he explained.
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“I feel like we’re missing that in our lives right now,” he added.
The launch comes amidst the advancement of Zoom, designed as a business video platform, and other online chat services such as connections during lockdown.
Facebook users will be able to create virtual rooms and decide who to invite. “I could hang out on a couch over the weekend and send an invitation to all my friends to come ‘hang out on the couch in the living room,'” exemplified the creator of the platform.
Rooms include augmented reality effects like rabbit ears and aliens, as well as simulated backgrounds.
In an unusual step, those without Facebook accounts or applications are enabled to visit ‘Messenger Rooms’.
“People can just send a link to their grandmother or whoever,” said Zuckerberg. If you don’t have the app, the link will open in a browser, he added.
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Facebook provided security mechanisms to prevent unwanted guests from entering virtual rooms, which has happened in Zoom. “We have the advantage of establishing a secure perimeter,” said Zuckerberg.
‘Messenger Rooms’ is expected to be available to nearly 2.5 billion Facebook users in the coming weeks.
But also, the giant of social networks plans that the “rooms” can be created from the messaging platforms of Instagram and WhatsApp, part of the technological group.
Facebook will also double to eight the number of people who can simultaneously participate in WhatsApp group video calls.
Another feature to be launched is to include in the Facebook dating service an option to invite people to virtual appointments through Messenger video chat.
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