Facebook today announced the launch of its own anonymous messaging app, called Rooms. With this, the social networking giant has entered a domain, which is an increasingly crowded field, considering various start-ups, which revolve around anonymous messaging.
But wait, Facebook’s app is a bit different from others have to offer. While anonymous messaging apps like Secret and Telegram allow user-to-user chatting, Facebook has brought back that old Internet era, by introducing anonymous messaging via chat rooms.
Rooms pits you with people, who share the same interest as you, and hence gives an exciting new dimension to anonymous chatting. While user-to-user chatting is already prevalent, chatting anonymously with people who share the same interest as you, sounds much more interesting and fun.
As per Josh Miller of Facebook,
Secret and Yik Yak are very different products. Our whole thing is creating corners of the Internet for people like you.
In Rooms, user can create forums or chat rooms, of their interest. These anonymous chat rooms are invite-only with each chat room having its own circular QR code. If the existing member need to invite a new contact to an existing chat room, they can pass on the circular QR code, which the new contact will scan, and will hence get recognised by the app.
Since the app is for anonymous messaging, people do not require a facebook account, or any other identification for that matter, to join in. The app, which is similar to Facebook’s slingshot, in the sense, that you would never be able to recognise that it’s a Facebook product. There are no signs of Facebook branding, neither is there a need, for a facebook account. Though Facebook does give you a chance to hand over your email, in case you wish to restore the account in near future.
Rooms is yet another app from Facebook’s Creative Labs, which had earlier delivered Paper and Slingshot. Both of those apps were pure failure, and did not even manage to get into top 100 charts of either Android or iOS.
