In the last few
months, video conferencing has become a popular choice for people to stay
connected because of the current pandemic that has everyone staying inside
their homes. Among the software and apps being used for this purpose, Zoom is
taking the lead. Amidst all of this, Facebook has recently enhanced its own
video call feature for increased engagement as well.
Facebook’s video
chat software is Messenger Rooms where up to 50 people can create calls via a
link. The social media company has announced that Rooms chats can now be
broadcasted to Facebook Live. The Live feature allows broadcasting through
groups, pages, and in timelines via individual profiles.
The new ‘Rooms Via Live’ feature offers some controls for the call host. For instance, the limit of participants is 50, a link will be required to join, and the host will have the ability to remove people if needed. A major difference with this update is that the calls will be viewed by an audience that would have seen a live broadcast on Facebook by that host.
Messenger Rooms
was launched at the end of April with limited availability, when more and more
people had started turning to video conferencing, and was made globally
available in June. Rooms was also seen as a potential Houseparty competitor. Meanwhile,
Zoom had already started gaining popularity among billions of people who had
started to use it for video calls. Facebook being one of the leading most-used
social media platform, is only working hard on enhancing connectivity and
engagement.
Facebook has
already rolled out the new feature in limited release and plans to expand it
globally everywhere that Messenger Rooms is used. The company has also added
that it is currently working on putting out other new features for users as
well.
