Last month Facebook unveiled a new feature called Messenger Rooms. The feature was designed to take on Zoom and other video calling apps that have gained popularity due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Messenger Rooms can host video calls with up to 50 participants and allows both public and private rooms. Facebook"s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature rollout earlier today and said:
WhatsApp and Messenger are already the most popular video calling services globally, but for large groups most of the video services out there are designed for work, not social interactions. Messenger Rooms is group video chat designed for social interactions. Rooms have no time limits, can host up to 50 people, and you can create them for free across Messenger, Facebook, and soon Instagram and WhatsApp as well.
Zuckerberg"s post confirmed the Rooms integration for WhatsApp and Instagram as well. He also noted that Rooms will be able to host 50 participants free of cost and there will not be a time limit; putting Messenger Rooms ahead of Zoom which has a 40 minute time limit for free accounts.
Earlier this week, we got our first look at the Rooms integration for WhatsApp and we assume a similar implementation will be put in place for Instagram as well. Currently, Messenger Rooms is rolling out to Facebook users in the USA, Canada, and Mexico with a global rollout starting next week.