In April 2020, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new feature of adding Rooms to Messenger, which would allow up to 50 participants in a video call. He had said that in the beginning, Messenger Rooms will be available for personal accounts only, and not for the Pages and Groups.
However, now, Facebook has announced that Messenger Rooms will be available within groups and events too.
While this feature is still in the process of rolling out, it is interesting to see how Facebook plans to work around it.
The Group Rooms are exploring different options currently; both Group admins and group members can create dedicated rooms from the Groups composer settings, which will allow them to host video calls with up to 50 people at one time.
Group admins will have full control over the settings of these Messenger Rooms. If members create a group and the admins do not approve of it, they can remove it. With this rein in the hands of the admins, it will be easy to manage the discipline in the group and keep the community safe.
Admins can create Rooms with “Admin-only” settings too if a group has a post approval system. Members will be able to join the chat in these rooms anytime they want. Admins can allow any group member to create a designated room too, which can then be shared amongst other group members. There is also an option to add links and make Room sharing possible to invite more people who are not in that group but are in the friends' list of group members.
If a group does not have the post approval system on, then as per the default settings, anyone in the group will be able to create a Room.
Different settings and control options are working out for Group Rooms, so that interaction with people is made possible, virtual meetings of large groups, virtual hangouts of friends and family are possible through this medium. This is going to especially prove helpful in current times when social distancing and lockdown are implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the case of Events, users can mark their event listings as an “Online Event.” To help people engage more easily when they attend an Online Event, Facebook is integrating the Rooms feature. These rooms within events will let people invite their friends, family members, colleagues, and classmates to join through easily accessible and shareable video chat links.
For the time being, these Rooms will be available for Private Online Events only though. However, it is going to make communication and interaction with people sharing similar interests and views easier and swifter.
As previously mentioned, these Messenger Rooms are still in the process of development and are available for Australian users only. The notion and the looks so far seem to be really positive, but there is a “room” for improvement too. Especially the notification settings are not so good, and some buttons and control options need to be fixed, otherwise, it is a great initiative by Facebook in these trying times when communication with other humans is only advisable through online media.
Keeping this in consideration, Facebook is going to bring back its “Live With” video streaming feature also, which will allow users to co-broadcast with another person in their Live videos on Facebook. New features are going to be added to make the live streaming more profound and interactive for the users.
Messenger Rooms for Groups and Events are going to be made available for iOS, Android, and desktop once they become fully functional and available worldwide.
Read next: Facebook News Feature Remains A Question Mark To News Publishers Even After Six Months Of Its Release
However, now, Facebook has announced that Messenger Rooms will be available within groups and events too.
While this feature is still in the process of rolling out, it is interesting to see how Facebook plans to work around it.
The Group Rooms are exploring different options currently; both Group admins and group members can create dedicated rooms from the Groups composer settings, which will allow them to host video calls with up to 50 people at one time.
Group admins will have full control over the settings of these Messenger Rooms. If members create a group and the admins do not approve of it, they can remove it. With this rein in the hands of the admins, it will be easy to manage the discipline in the group and keep the community safe.
Admins can create Rooms with “Admin-only” settings too if a group has a post approval system. Members will be able to join the chat in these rooms anytime they want. Admins can allow any group member to create a designated room too, which can then be shared amongst other group members. There is also an option to add links and make Room sharing possible to invite more people who are not in that group but are in the friends' list of group members.
If a group does not have the post approval system on, then as per the default settings, anyone in the group will be able to create a Room.
Different settings and control options are working out for Group Rooms, so that interaction with people is made possible, virtual meetings of large groups, virtual hangouts of friends and family are possible through this medium. This is going to especially prove helpful in current times when social distancing and lockdown are implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the case of Events, users can mark their event listings as an “Online Event.” To help people engage more easily when they attend an Online Event, Facebook is integrating the Rooms feature. These rooms within events will let people invite their friends, family members, colleagues, and classmates to join through easily accessible and shareable video chat links.
For the time being, these Rooms will be available for Private Online Events only though. However, it is going to make communication and interaction with people sharing similar interests and views easier and swifter.
As previously mentioned, these Messenger Rooms are still in the process of development and are available for Australian users only. The notion and the looks so far seem to be really positive, but there is a “room” for improvement too. Especially the notification settings are not so good, and some buttons and control options need to be fixed, otherwise, it is a great initiative by Facebook in these trying times when communication with other humans is only advisable through online media.
Keeping this in consideration, Facebook is going to bring back its “Live With” video streaming feature also, which will allow users to co-broadcast with another person in their Live videos on Facebook. New features are going to be added to make the live streaming more profound and interactive for the users.
Messenger Rooms for Groups and Events are going to be made available for iOS, Android, and desktop once they become fully functional and available worldwide.
Read next: Facebook News Feature Remains A Question Mark To News Publishers Even After Six Months Of Its Release
