Facebook introduces 'Messenger Rooms' to counter WFH app Zoom's popularity amid COVID-19

As the World resorts to staying at home in the battle against the global COVID-19 crisis, people across the world have resorted to Video Conferencing platforms to stay connected for personal or professional requirements. Amid the Pandemic Zoom Video Conferencing App has emerged to be a popular medium which has recorded 300 million daily active users during the pandemic. Observing the surge in popularity of Zoom platform, Facebook has come up with a new video chat feature called 'Messenger Rooms' that will allow users to create joinable group video calls of up to 50 people without time limit.

The new feature will allow the host of the room to have control over who joins. He will also be able to lock or unlock the room and remove any participant at any time. 

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"We don’t view or listen to your calls, and the person who creates the room controls who can join, who sees the room, and if the room is locked or unlocked to new guests," Stan Chudnovsky, Facebook’s vice president of Messenger said in a statement.

"The room creator must be present in order for the call to begin, and the creator can remove guests at any time," the statement added.

Zoom has been a widely used video conferencing platform; however the app's security protection has been in question recently which has also impacted consumers' confidence in the service, thereby prompting them to look for a viable alternative.

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Other alternatives

To seize the opportunity, Google Meet has also rolled out an updated version of the app competing with Zoom. In the major feature upgrade, Google Meet has expanded tiled layout which now let 16 participants appear on the screen simultaneously, which previously enabled only four people to feature on the layout. The company has also indicated that more updates will be rolled out for larger meetings, better presentation layouts, and support across more devices.

Besides, there is a variety of other apps which can be a medium for conducting video calls. Microsoft Teams, Zoho Meeting, Signal, Skype Meet Now are few of the other apps which can be an alternative in the ever-increasing demand of Video Conferencing platforms across the globe.