Now Facebook has added Rooms, a standalone app that lets you communicate with just your in-crowd, but it could have privacy advocates up in arms.
Facebook Australia says people can join a room only if they are invited to do so. But the invitation process seems quite loose as, according to Facebook, people can share room invitations in the same way they share photos on social media, or in text messages or emails, or printed out on paper.
Users can take a screenshot of the room invitation and use it to unlock that room in the app.
Facebook said that a room was “a feed of photos, videos, and text – not too different from the one you have on Instagram or Facebook - with a topic determined by whoever created the room”.
There are differences with Facebook groups however. Rooms is a standalone app that is separate from the Facebook ecosystem and doesn’t require a Facebook account to login in. So a Room is more a public forum rather than a private group that requires an admin and entry request.
Facebook said “There are many cases where people want to discuss a topic but don’t necessarily want it tied to their real identity — for example, a personal finance room, a room for people planning to start a family, a room about a health condition, or a room about high-end watches,”.
Facebook says online forums and chat rooms have used pseudonyms for years and is offering tools for room creators to moderate comments just like on a web forum. People can complain about inappropriate posts and, while users can post under nicknames, Facebook says it is prepared to work with law enforcement agencies and identify IP address and other information in cases of criminal activity.
Facebook meanwhile is fending off an accusation in the US that it copied another app called “Room” that offers a similar chat service.
The app has been developed by Facebook Creative Labs and is available only for iOS users at this time. Facebook says the app will not carry advertising for now.
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