WATCH: Facebook is trying to bring back the ’90s with a new chat room app called “Rooms”.
TORONTO – Facebook has launched a new anonymous chat room app in what seems like an attempt to bring back the old school Internet.
The app, dubbed “Rooms,” allows users to create a “room” on any topic where users with like interests can share pictures, videos and multimedia posts to create a tailored Facebook feed.
But unlike Facebook Pages, Rooms allows users to post under an alias name.
“One of the things our team loves most about the Internet is its potential to let us be whoever we want to be,” read a blog post announcing the service.
“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.”
The ability to post anonymously in Rooms seems to stand in stark contrast to the rest of Facebook.
Facebook has long required its users to go by their “real names” on the site for security purposes, to stand out from other social networks and so it can better target advertising to people.
Facebook recently came under fire for deleting accounts belonging to drag queens that used drag names such as “Lil Hot Mess” rather than legal names like Bob Smith.
Since its real name policy stirred controversy within the transgendered community, Facebook said the spirit of its policy doesn’t mean a person’s legal name but “the authentic name they use in real life.”
READ MORE: Facebook apologizes to drag queens for ‘real names’ policy
The company appears to be pushing the Rooms app as an ode to the chatrooms of the 90s, where users freely posted using anonymous screen names.
“One of the magical things about the early days of the web was connecting to people who you would never encounter otherwise in your daily life,” wrote Facebook’s Josh Miller, leader of the team that created the app, in a blog post.
“Today, as we spend more time on our phones, primarily to communicate with friends and family, the role of the Internet as a ‘third place’ has begun to fade.”
The app has already been criticized by some users who say the anonymous feature is outweighed by the fact Rooms can only be shared with their Facebook friends.
“One of the most obvious problems is that the only way to expand your group is to market it to people you know. In all honesty, what’s the point in the anonymous capability if everyone in my ‘room’ are all of the people I personally invite,” read one review on Apple’s app store.
“I would love to see a search feature where random people can join groups of interest. That would make me intrigued.”
Currently Rooms can only be shared through invitations that look like QR codes.
But theoretically, invite codes could be posted anywhere online to invite new users to join. Additionally, the app does not require users to have a Facebook account, which means they could create “public” Rooms and invite anyone they wish.
Rooms is being rolled out to U.S. users starting Friday – however there is no Canadian launch date yet.
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