Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has recently introduced the Rooms feature on Facebook Messenger in select countries.

Facebook Rooms

Facebook had a standalone chat room app, Rooms that allowed users to interact with and talk to random users who share the same interests. However, the company’s previous efforts to encourage broader conversations failed, leading to the shutting down of the standalone app.

Now, Facebook is trying to revive those efforts with the limited launch of the Rooms feature on Facebook Messenger.

The rollout confirms previous speculations that the Rooms feature might come to Facebook Messenger. In September, a set of codes for the chatroom feature was found out to be hidden in the company’s primary messaging app.

“This could work well as an add-on for things like larger Facebook groups, where not all the members are also Facebook friends,” noted the report.

How It Works

The codes indicate that a Room is a place for users to publicly converse about certain interests. Each Room has a unique link that can be shared with anyone, enabling all users to potentially to join a particular Room.

Moreover, users can create new Rooms through Facebook Messenger. They can invite and even review new participants. Like any other conversations on Facebook Messenger, Rooms notifications can also be modified accordingly.

The difference between a group chat and a Room conversation is in two main factors: 1) privacy; and 2) limitation of participants.

In a typical Facebook Messenger group chat, the users personally know one another. The conversation is kept private and cannot enable other people to join unless a member adds them to the group chat.

Meanwhile, in a Room conversation, all potential participants are given public access to discuss major topics or common interests. Depending on the administrator, Room conversation can also be set to private. Consequently, participation may also be subject to approval.

Currently, the chatroom integration is rolling out in Australia and Canada. The social networking giant often launches trial runs in these two markets because of their broad English-speaking user bases.

Facebook declined 1.47% on Friday, closing the week at $119.02.