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Tag: rooms

  • Facebook’s Rooms App Gets More Usable

    Facebook has released an update to Rooms, the mobile message board app it launched in October. The update adds a new “Explore” feature to make it easier to discover new “rooms” to join.

    When Rooms launched, it wasn’t as ridiculous as Slingshot (an app previously released by the same Facebook Creative Labs team), but it also wasn’t the easiest thing in the world for users to get into. As my colleague Josh Wolford wrote at the time:

    If you download Rooms today, you might find it hard to find room to join. That’s because Rooms doesn’t (yet?) have a browse or search function. In another hit of internet nostalgia, finding and joining rooms is all based around QR codes – which are autogenerated for each room, and then used as tickets of sorts to join the boards. The app will scan your camera roll for any QR codes you’ve saved, and that’s how you enter into a room.

    Well, that missing piece has now been added.

    “Starting today, we’re giving you an easier way to discover and join these communities,” Facebook says in a blog post. “In Rooms v1.2, you’ll notice a new ‘Explore’ button in the top-left of the app. Navigate there to take a peek at a handful of awesome rooms and join them with a single tap! We hope you find a room that resonates with you.”

    Last month, Rooms added an activity dashboard and push notifications. Slowly but surely it’s becoming a more usable app.

    According to Facebook, “Over the past month and a half, our community has created tens of thousands of rooms ranging from developers emulating old video games on modern smartphones, to college fraternities, depression support, and Kendama tricks.”

    Still no word on when the app might launch for Android. Right now, it’s iOS-only.

    Image via Facebook

  • Facebook Updates Rooms iPhone App

    Facebook Updates Rooms iPhone App

    If you’ll recall, Facebook launched a standalone app called Rooms in October. This is not to be confused with Groups, which it has since launched.

    Facebook described rooms as “inspired by both the ethos of early web communities and the capabilities of modern smartphones.” It’s basically like forums, which you access via QR code. More on how it works here.

    The app, which is only available for iOS, just got an update. Here’s what’s new (via iTunes):

    Sounds: Pick a custom sound for members to hear when they tap the like button—more than 50 options!

    Activity dashboard: Track activity in your room, including total time spent in the room and posts, comments, and likes over the last week.

    Push notifications: Get messages on your phone when somebody posts to a room you’re in. Turn them on or off in Settings.

    Bug fixes: We fixed a bunch of things to make Rooms work better and faster.

    No word on when Facebook might launch the app for Android. That probably depends on how much traction it can gain on iOS. At least Groups, which is based on established feature launched on both platforms.

    Via TNW

    Image via iTunes

  • Facebook Launches Mobile Message Board App ‘Rooms’

    Facebook has just launched a standalone app that doesn’t even allow you to connect with Facebook (even if you wanted to) and also lets you be anonymous – to a certain degree. It’s called Rooms, and you can download it now at the App Store (if it’s working, which it may not be right now).

    With Rooms, Facebook Creative Labs seems to be playing with the idea of early internet nostalgia. It’s said to be “inspired by both the ethos of these early web communities and the capabilities of modern smartphones.”

    At its core, Rooms is a forums app. It lets you create and join mini message boards, each one focused on a specific topic. This is free-form foruming if you will (as opposed to pre-made board topics), which means each “room” can be as general as movie discussion or as specific as traditional Jewish cooking.

    Each room is basically a vertical feed, populated with photos, text, and videos.

    And each room’s creator acts as a moderator, as app head Josh Miller says,

    “Not only are rooms dedicated to whatever you want, room creators can also control almost everything else about them. Rooms is designed to be a flexible, creative tool. You can change the text and emoji on your like button, add a cover photo and dominant colors, create custom ‘pinned’ messages, customize member permissions, and even set whether or not people can link to your content on the web. In the future, we’ll continue to add more customizable features and ways to tweak your room. The Rooms team is committed to building tools that let you create your perfect place. Our job is to empower you.”

    And in a departure from Facebook’s much-discussed real name policy, Rooms allows you to remain anonymous – or at least lets you adopt a screenname.

    “That’s why in Rooms you can be “Wonder Woman” – or whatever name makes you feel most comfortable and proud. You can even create different identities for different contexts. In my room for technology industry discussions I am “Josh” but in another about backpacking travel I am “jm90403” – a homage to my hometown zip code. Sometimes I want to go with my real name and sometimes I prefer a nickname. It depends,” says Miller.

    If you download Rooms today, you might find it hard to find room to join. That’s because Rooms doesn’t (yet?) have a browse or search function. In another hit of internet nostalgia, finding and joining rooms is all based around QR codes – which are autogenerated for each room, and then used as tickets of sorts to join the boards. The app will scan your camera roll for any QR codes you’ve saved, and that’s how you enter into a room.

    It’s too early to see if the idea of Rooms catches on – but the concept of easy-to-create and easy-to navigate mobile message boards seems interesting enough. When it comes to Facebook’s standalone apps, at least Rooms isn’t derivative. That’s more than we can say for some.

    Images via Rooms, iTunes