Facebook announced its new video chat service, Messenger Rooms, a feature that allows for high-volume video chats, competing directly with Zoom.
The newly-launched Messenger Rooms will allow for up to 50 participants at a time. There is no cost involved nor is there a time limit placed on the length of the video chat.
Participants will be allowed to join even if they do not have a Facebook account. People will be able to join from all Facebook services, which includes WhatsApp and Instagram or through a shareable link. Users will be able to join and leave rooms as they want and can restrict access to video chats.
This has created competition for popular video conference platform, Zoom, who has recently become one of the top choices for video chat rooms. On Zoom’s free plan, 100 participants can join a video chat with a time limit of 40 minutes.
CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, also announced that WhatsApp group video calls will now allow 8 people to join, which is an increase from the 4 participants it allowed previously.
