Talking with random strangers just got easy with the Facebook Messenger rooms making a comeback. Avid Facebookers will remember that in December last, the standalone app Facebook Rooms was killed. But Facebook is now back with the feature making it a part of its messenger. The facility has currently being rolled out as a test version in Australia and Canada. Therefore, it could take a while before users in other parts of the world get to benefit from this Facebook feature.
Facebook Messenger Rooms
In essence, Facebook Messenger rooms represent a public chat room where a user can create a room on a topic of his/her choice. We can think of this more like Reddit, though a cap of 250 participants per room applies for now. The rooms can either be public or private. But, remember Facebook has the right to throw out any undesirable room if they find it playing up. This is internet after all and Facebook will be keen to ensure that the facility thrown in is used the way it is intended to be. In other words, Facebook would not want your friends to be hassled on topics that are not of any interest to them, says Drew Moxon, product manager for Facebook Messenger.
According to Drew Moxon, Group chats focus on people known to you, family and friends and after talking to a cross-section of users, Facebook found out that there is plenty of room for conversations on specific topics (each topic representing a room). This throws open the opportunity even for strangers to join the conversation on the given topic. Think of the recent US Presidential election for an example.
Facebook Messenger rooms field testing in Australia and Canada
Presently, Facebook is field testing messenger rooms in Australia and Canada, and if everything goes well, the feature should roll out to other parts of the globe soon. A few months ago, the Messenger rooms were rumored to be coming, but for the first time, we have now seen the feature live. If you live in Australia or Canada, you can straight away check out the feature on Facebook. Others will need to wait for a while, though.