Tech Talk: Facebook to improve video calling feature accommodating 50 people - The Sauce
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Lifestyle

Tech Talk: Facebook to improve video calling feature accommodating 50 people

Facebook its taking on video calling platform Zoom by a similar feature.

The tech giant is creating a new video conference version of its Messenger app called Messenger Rooms, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last week.


The new service will allow users to host a meeting with up to 50 people at once with no time limit, Zuckerberg said in a video announcement. Facebook users can invite people to Messenger Rooms even if they don’t have Facebook accounts.


Meanwhile, Zoom’s free version allows up to 100 people together, but for a maximum of 40 minutes.


Facebook is rolling out Messenger Rooms that will feature AI-enabled virtual backgrounds. Facebook’s backgrounds will span 360 degrees, which Zuckerberg boasted will take the experience to “the next level.”


Rooms can currently be accessed through the Messenger app or the main Facebook platform, but will soon be added to the company’s other applications, including Instagram and WhatsApp. The service will be rolled out to some countries this week and expanded worldwide in the coming weeks.


“Facebook is also expanding its existing video services, which have seen a huge spike in usage during the pandemic. More than 700 million people participate in video calls on its apps each day, and usage has more than doubled in many countries in recent months,” Zuckerberg said.


The company will start by doubling the maximum number of people that can simultaneously join a video call on WhatsApp, its mobile messaging service, from four to eight. That update will be launched next week, Zuckerberg said.


“WhatsApp is the only end-to-end encrypted video calling service,” he added, in what may have been a veiled swipe at recent controversies over Zoom’s privacy and security protections.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.


Zuckerberg announced a number of other updates on including a “virtual date” video feature on Facebook’s dating service and expanded services for Facebook’s video-chat hardware tool, Portal.

The use of video calling services has exploded in recent months, as the coronavirus outbreak forces people around the world to work and socialize from home.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Some More Sauce...

Entertainment

News of the arrest of popular disc jockey Joe Mfalme in connection with the fatal assault of a senior police officer has taken the...

Entertainment

It is the eve of a new tiding for Director Trevor, as he gets hot in the heels spearheading his now rebranded news channel,...

Da Squeeze

Is there possibly one thing that Lisa Christoffersen cannot do? Seems unlikely. Having defied odds and beat stage 4 cancer 18 years ago, her...

Da Squeeze

Kenyan rap bigwig Khaligraph Jones is utterly disappointed after his much-hyped Instagram Live session with American rap star Rick Ross failed to happen. The...

Entertainment

Wizkid has requested people stop referring to him as an Afrobeats artist. The Nigerian singer – whose real name is Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun –...

Da Squeeze

The devil works hard, but Brian Chira’s friends, acquaintances and fans work harder! Within hours of launching, the departed TikToker’s funeral fundraiser has amassed...

Entertainment

Shakira thinks she “probably” won’t find love like she had with Gerard Piqué again. The 47-year-old singer split from the former soccer star –...

Entertainment

Catherine, Princess of Wales has announced she is undergoing “preventative” chemotherapy for cancer. The 42-year-old royal – who is married to Prince William and...