Look Out, Zoom: Facebook Launches ‘Meeting Rooms’ Feature

Because you KNEW that they couldn't go without being the go-to for socialization.

Even though it's become the popular online hangout since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Zoom has been around for a while. It was started back in 2011 by a group of engineers who had previously worked at Cisco Webex. They initially named the company Saasbee, Inc., but they had problems finding investors.

In 2012, they renamed their company Zoom and signed Stanford University as one of their first clients. They offered video meetings with up to 15 participants at the same time. In April of 2019, the company went public with an IPO on the stock market. And the rest is history.

To be honest, I'd never heard of Zoom until the pandemic started. And then, I started getting invited to all of these parties with people I hadn't seen in years.

Over 300 million people are using Zoom at the moment. And, as they always do, Facebook saw Zoom taking over the world of social media and decided to create their own meeting room - it's called Messenger Rooms.

They seem to be capitalizing on the "scary" news that's been coming from Zoom, aka Zoombombing. Oklahoma City University was the most recent victim; during an online commencement ceremony with 650 graduates, a hacker got into the event and started posting swastikas and racist slurs.

In Messenger Rooms, there are default settings that will prevent hackers from entering the meetings. And, while you can invite people who aren't on Facebook, this isn't as secure.