
Facebook Rooms - jamesjyu
http://www.rooms.me/
======
casebash
Facebook's strategy to create separate apps is a good one, but Rooms seem
rather niche. Facebook groups are better for many purposes since they have
access to notifications and the newsfeed. Reddit probably works better for
large groups and allows anonymity too (though not on a per Reddit basis). So
Rooms work for groups where anonymity is valuable (ie. sharing secrets,
controversial opinions, ect) and where the groups aren't too large. Here, the
discovery mechanism being overly complex actually does provide an advantage.
It makes it more likely to be "underground" and hence cool.

~~~
bduerst
I disagree - Rooms seems like it is trying to do too many things at once.

The discovery mechanism is QR codes, which wasn't "underground" enough to
boost any marketing or advertising activities that were based on them. In
fact, because each room's value relies on user-generated content, I have a
feeling that this will be short lived, if only because it is so difficult to
get more users into a room to generate content.

One of the reasons subreddits achieved such popularity was because of the
extreme ease by which users can find, join, and start submitting.

Without clear connections between rooms, all it's going to take is joining a
few empty rooms before users become disengaged and start ignoring invites like
they do most other QR codes.

~~~
gailees
> One of the reasons subreddits achieved such popularity was because of the
> extreme ease by which users can find, join, and start submitting.

This is exactly why Facebook Groups are taking off right now.

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berberous
The UX is so silly. Give me a list of damn rooms I can join, or a search
feature. I'm all for the screenshot invite method as an additional feature,
but it's a terrible onboarding process and I think will make many people not
bother.

~~~
bduerst
This would be amazing if there were indexed public rooms, or even rooms tied
to geo-locations that you could join because they were based solely in your
area. The coded invite-only kills it.

------
goblin89
Quite unexpected on the part of Facebook, and looks like an interesting
project.

A couple of points on their Privacy page bothers me, though:

> Once you confirm your account, you may delete content you have posted at any
> time. <…>

> To sign up for Rooms, you may provide us with information such as an email
> address and usernames. <…>

> We may share information about you within the companies and services
> operated by Facebook to understand and improve our services [but the
> information from Rooms won't be posted to Facebook and vice-versa].

It'd be more fun if you _couldn 't_ delete your content (so that messages
posted a while ago don't lose their context), but instead you could be
absolutely anonymous (not even having to provide valid email address, which
per above will quite likely be matched with your Facebook account at some
point).

~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "It'd be more fun if you couldn't delete your content (so that messages
posted a while ago don't lose their context), but instead you could be
absolutely anonymous (not even having to provide valid email address, which
per above will quite likely be matched with your Facebook account at some
point)."

If they did that people would be complaining that Facebook won't let them
delete their data.

~~~
goblin89
People most certainly would complain in either case, no arguing here.

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knicholes
Holy shit! It's IRC.

~~~
kosei
Without usernames like 19834839392...

~~~
wdewind
You're thinking ICQ.

~~~
kosei
Oops. Saw the wrong letters. :-)

~~~
nissehulth
Not that far off anyway, AOL did own ICQ for a number of years, sold it 2010
if my memory serves me right.

------
darkstar999
How can anyone justify building an iOS-only app when it's only 11% of the
market, while Android is 84%?

~~~
larrywright
Because it's the 11% that matters. I mean this honestly, I'm not being
dismissive. I could point you at plenty of data to back this up, but the
simple fact that almost everyone's app goes iOS first should be sufficient to
indicate that it's the platform that matters most.

Side note: I've got both iOS and Android devices, and nearly every app on
Android feels like a cheap knockoff of the iOS equivalent. I can't think of a
single situation where I prefer the Android app over the iOS app.

~~~
hayksaakian
The relevant data you're probably thinking about is average monthly spend, and
popularity in the USA.

For a free app with an international audience like Facebook, this seems like
the wrong strategy

------
Robadob
Shame that it's currently ios only. Any chance of a web/android app, or is
this purely an experimental product for the time being?

~~~
nacs
It's from "Facebook Creative Labs"
([https://www.facebook.com/labs](https://www.facebook.com/labs)) so I'm sure
this is more experimental at this point.

------
consultutah
Facebook takes on Reddit, et. al.

~~~
josefresco
More like if you invented a sub Reddit/interest clone today, this is what it
would be (an app instead of a website).

------
gearoidoc
I visited the website twice and still don't really have an idea what this app
does.

Localised Pinterest is my current guess? :\

~~~
constantinum
Facebook’s Rooms App Is a Flashback to Internet Bulletin Boards
[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-
app...](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-app-is-a-
flashback-to-internet-bulletin-boards/?ref=technology)

~~~
dragonwriter
> Facebook’s Rooms App Is a Flashback to Internet Bulletin Boards

A flashback? Wouldn't internet bulletin boards have to have gone away for it
to be a flashback to them?

------
api
Rooms - participate in an unpaid focus group for your favorite products!

------
clay_to_n
I made a Hacker News room, if nothing else so that people can test an actual
room when they see this comment thread.

[http://imgur.com/Jl3siZt](http://imgur.com/Jl3siZt)

------
gailees
"The item you tried to buy is no longer available."

------
13throwaway
From what I can tell it seems like room names are not unique. I think this is
the reason for the "join by screenshot" feature.

------
anvarik
Is it only for US? Cause I live in Germany and I can't find it in the Appstore
& Facebook Inc's list.

~~~
michh
Ugh. I'm in .nl and our app store still doesn't have Facebook Paper, it's been
available in the US store for ages now.

------
tkoski
Pretty "funny" but just some weeks ago we did a show HN proof of concept:
[http://spend-a-day.at/](http://spend-a-day.at/)

It's the same but mainly for people who are sitting in front of computer all
day long.

Did I understand right rooms.me is mobile only?

------
siavosh
Hmm, is there no facebook login option or requirement? Not that it's a bad
thing.

~~~
veemjeem
well, considering it was written by facebook, i'm guessing there won't be a
non-facebook login option.

~~~
labpdx
You don't need a login at all, actually. You can confirm an email if you want,
but it's not (currently) required.

------
pepitogr
What is the room for not buying anything at all? I don't want to share
interest in any product.

I would like to see an ancient greek thinker comming to one of theses rooms
and wondering what are people talking about here.

------
Jamie452
Programmers

A room to talk about your recent projects, upcoming hackathons/events, or to
simply ask for help!

Let's kick this thing off!

[http://i.imgur.com/FIRg6zl.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/FIRg6zl.jpg)

~~~
espadrine
> _" Screenshot & open Rooms app to enter"_

This is the worst hyperlink system I have seen, ever.

I both cannot click to get to it, and it is designed to look like a QR code,
yet I cannot take a snapshot of my own phone's screen apart from a clunky use
of a mirror (which probably doesn't even work).

The fact that there is no Web frontend is obviously an abysmal choice.

Beyond that, the idea behind this app is amazingly great.

~~~
tomhschmidt
If you screenshot the pic or save it to your camera roll, Rooms will
automatically add you to the room. It's effectively the same as taking a
picture of the QR code.

~~~
jonknee
Except nothing happens when you take the screenshot or save it to your camera
roll. It's an awful UX.

------
eva1984
Downloaded this app out of curiosity, but deleted it 10 minutes later after
failing to find an entrance but stuck at some weird barcode pages...Anyone
with me?

------
michaelmior
Seems quite similar to what I was once working on at Bunch[0].

[0] [http://www.joinbunch.com/](http://www.joinbunch.com/)

~~~
thatusertwo
thats what I thought of when I saw this.

~~~
michaelmior
Cool :) Haven't really run into many on HN familiar with this. We popped up on
TC a couple times and managed to get a few thousand users. The cold start
problem is tough one to crack though and things ultimately didn't pan out.
It's going to be interesting to see how Facebook, Inc. leverages Facebook for
Rooms since they have the same problem there.

~~~
zabramow
I also thought of Bunch. We were/are doing something related (but not really)
at ReplyAll.me so I had kept track of your company. Were you a dev there?

~~~
michaelmior
Yup. I built the first version of the site and the iPhone app some time ago.

~~~
zabramow
Cool, would love to pick your brain sometime.

~~~
michaelmior
You can reach me via email if you wish :)

[http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01v7T3-5hK7BZ7H...](http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01v7T3-5hK7BZ7HyIYEb1PSQ==&c=8XNMHvCnbvD9IdVKeTWtGw==)

------
zabramow
Not sure I understand the need. Aren't there enough places on the Internet
where you can connect with people around shared interests?

~~~
sswaner
If you maintain a social graph database with a billion+ nodes, a feature like
this will be a great tool for determining the more relevant relationships
among users.

------
BaptisteGreve
I can't find the app on the french AppStore

------
Napapijri
Interesting to see all these Facebook projects. Looks like this one could be
the most promising yet.

~~~
uptown
Based on what?

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mkoller
Looking forward for an android port.

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calbear81
So it's kind of like 4Chan?

~~~
valarauca1
More like Reddit meets Geocities.

Or a bulletin board, also knonw as BBS. Which is kinda like 4chan. Early
forums grew out of the BBS/Usenet experience.

------
carrotted
Works for me! Made a subreddit for sharing invites to rooms:
[http://reddit.com/r/roominvites](http://reddit.com/r/roominvites)

Here's one for San Francisco:
[http://i.imgur.com/qkks5gt.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/qkks5gt.jpg)

~~~
eridius
The coloration thing is cute, but it _really_ breaks the invite system. I
couldn't for the life of me get it to scan the San Francisco invite. Until I
popped it open in Acorn and changed the green to black. That worked really
well.

San Francisco invite that works:
[http://i.imgur.com/87rGMHw.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/87rGMHw.jpg)

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pavel_lishin
Kind of annoying that it's mobile- and apple-only.

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dude_abides
Room for Fantasy Football Sit/Start Advice -
[http://i.imgur.com/OVOLbjP.png](http://i.imgur.com/OVOLbjP.png)

------
rossfishkind
Designers

A room to talk about design, tools and tricks of the trade, projects, etc.

[http://i.imgur.com/c6qURmx.png](http://i.imgur.com/c6qURmx.png)

------
zzyzzx
Silicon Valley problems:
[http://i.imgur.com/sxa2F76.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/sxa2F76.jpg)

------
Jamie452
A room for those in London.

Londoners - [http://i.imgur.com/zlnB5AR.png](http://i.imgur.com/zlnB5AR.png)

Come and join in :)

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silconvaleyroom
Silicon Valley - [http://imgur.com/pcfvBXL](http://imgur.com/pcfvBXL)

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ChrisArchitect
what is the difference between this and groups or pages? arrrrrrrrgh

~~~
constantinum
This explains > "Facebook’s Rooms App Is a Flashback to Internet Bulletin
Boards" [http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-
app...](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-app-is-a-
flashback-to-internet-bulletin-boards/?ref=technology)

------
mrwnmonm
why some people like to be anonymous in social networks?

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stefan_kendall3
"The item you tried to buy is no longer available."

They pulled it.

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OedipusRex
This is like GroupMe and YikYak had a child and they decided they needed to
add "rooms". I don't see this going anywhere.

~~~
pizza
Yeah? Not even with Facebook's massive userbase? Features alone never
guarantee success. If only .1% of Facebook's users used it, that would be a
million users.

~~~
jessaustin
By the same token, when something is pushed to _all those users_ and makes
relatively little impact, that's a huge opportunity cost for FB. Each time
they try something new, it will alienate some users, whether they just visit
FB less or stop using altogether or whatever. They would prefer that new
products/services make up for that one-time user cost with compensating
increased "stickiness" for other users over time, or some similar benefit.
They can't annoy their userbase without limit. Or maybe that's just wishful
thinking on my part...

------
minimaxir
Rooms is analogus to Slingshot: both apps are cheap clones of popular apps
(Whisper/YikYak and Snapchat respectively) with an extra dose of quirky-and-
random to appeal to the younger demographic.

I expect Rooms to see the same success as Slingshot. That is, none at all.

~~~
clay_to_n
This is not a clone of Whisper nor Yik Yak.

------
ropiku
Did it get pulled or not propagated correctly ? I get "The item you tried to
buy is no longer available." on US Appstore.

~~~
berberous
Works for me. Searched for Facebook, clicked Related, scrolled to the right to
find it, and now it's installing.

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c2prods
It seems not to be available anymore :(

~~~
shivbhadragohil
It's launched only for US now.

~~~
tomelliott
It's launched in the UK as well. I suspect for all those seeing 'unavailable'
it's just taking time to propagate through Apple's systems.

