by Tyler Durden
Fri, 04/24/2020 - 14:34
Facebook stock has jumped to session
highs and Zoom slumped negative, after an announcement from the world's biggest
social network that it is directly taking on the video chat market dominated by
Zoom, and is launching a slew of new video-calling features including Messenger
Rooms, which allows users to host video calls of up to 50 people.
As CNBC reports,
Messenger Rooms poses an immediate threat to Zoom and Houseparty, two
video-calling products that have seen their usage skyrocket over the past month
as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The new video features arrive as more
users turn to Facebook apps to socialize with their friends and family while
remaining in quarantine as a result of the pandemic.
Messenger Rooms is the flagship of Facebook’s new video-calling
services. The free feature will allow Facebook and Messenger users to create
group video calls of up to 50 people. By contrast, Messenger video calls are
limited to eight people.
Messenger
Rooms’ 50-person limit will not be immediately available. Facebook users will
see a smaller limit at launch, but it will soon ramp up to 50 people, a
spokesman for the company told CNBC. The limit will vary for users at launch,
the spokesman said. By comparison, Zoom allows up to 100 people to video chat
for free for up to 40 minutes. Houseparty supports up to eight people.
In an attempt to grab market share from Zoom, video calls on Messenger
Rooms have no time limit, and they will include features like augmented reality
filters that allow people to add silly masks to their faces. Room hosts will
also be able to lock the calls and remove users. Facebook and Messenger users
can create Messenger Rooms, and they can invite anyone to join, including
people who don’t have a Facebook account.
Messenger Rooms will start rolling out to users on Friday, and
it’ll ramp up to more regions over the coming weeks.
The news sent ZOOM stock plunging by almost $20, while FB jumped
to session highs.
Separately, Facebook also announced that it’s doubling
WhatsApp’s video call person limit from four people to eight people, and the
company is also introducing a video calling feature to Facebook Dating so users
of that service can go on virtual dates.
“Between
WhatsApp and Messenger, more than 700 million accounts participate in calls
every day,” said Stan Chudnovsky, vice president of Messenger, in a blog post.
“In many countries, video calling on Messenger and WhatsApp more than doubled,
and views of Facebook Live and Instagram Live videos increased significantly in
March.”
Facebook said it will also expand its Facebook and Instagram
livestreaming features. Instagram users, for example, will now be able to post
their livestreams to IGTV, giving followers a longer time window to watch
livestreams after they’ve been recorded.
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