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.
At first blush, it sounds like a rebadging of features already available in Facebook, such as groups and pages. In pages you can restrict the visibility of posts to just members, create events, and share photos and files privately.
And it sounds like something we’ve had on the internet since year Dot - forums, message boards, chat rooms and user groups.
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”.
Room founders and moderators employed by Facebook can moderate content and remove posts. If a member reports a post as inappropriate, then Facebook staff can remove that person from the room altogether and prevent them re-entering under another pseudonym tied to that account.
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.
Secondly, you can use a pseudonym in a room. In fact you can use a different nickname in each room you join. Some Facebook users might see this as a chance to lash out, offering opinions on topics they would be cautious to publish under their own names.
“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 said.
But as we’ve known for years, anonymity has its dangers. There’s already concern in the US where Rooms operates that it could become a rallying point for extremist and racist groups, and that anonymous comments could be a magnet for trolls, diatribes of vilification, just as anonymous readers comments in news websites sometimes are.
It is understood all rooms, including the name of the room, membership count, content and comments are publicly viewable by anyone, regardless of whether they are a Rooms app user or not.
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.
