Facebook takes on Zoom with its new video chat feature
Virtual Meetings have exploded in recent months with the Coronavirus outbreak forcing people to start working and socializing from home.
Video-calling services have seen a sharp rise during this coronavirus pandemic and that hasn’t escaped the notice of some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Facebook and Google.
Facebook last week announced a new service it’s calling Messenger Rooms, which doesn’t require a Facebook account and allows up to 50 people to meet virtually for as long as they like. While two week back, Google said its video conferencing tool for businesses, Google Meet, will now be free to everyone with an email address — allowing up to 100 people to meet for as long as they like. By comparison, Zoom’s free tier allows 100 people to meet for up to 40 minutes at a time.
The intensifying competition means consumers will have more choices for group video calls. But there are also long-term implications for the market and whether user demand will support multiple providers — or if a single winner will emerge.
Facebook has had a long and notorious history of expanding its features to emulate major competitors, from first launching stories on Instagram in 2016 as a clone of Snapchat. Now Facebook wants more of the video market and is trying to take on the now popular video sharing platform, Zoom (ZM).
This new feature will be available on beta versions of WhatsApp for both Android and iOS and will be end-to-end encrypted so no one else can view or listen in on private conversations, not even Facebook. Basically, end-to-end encryption is one of the main Unique Selling Points (USP) of the new video feature. Facebook is working to bring the security protocol to Messenger and Instagram Direct, so users will potentially be able to cross-platform chat across all these services one day, it’s easier said than done.
Facebook is working to prevent the reoccurring issues its competitor’s faced like the “Zoombombing problem,” which let uninvited guests drop into video calls to abuse participants or share pornography. The company is working with cryptographers to make the links for the Messenger Rooms difficult for hackers to guess. Although, publicly discoverable rooms will be listed at the top of the Facebook news feed and chats will not be end-to-end encrypted. Possibly, this would be one of the reasons why Facebook may successfully take on Zoom with its security and end-to-end encrypted tactics.
Other features of the new video feature include:
• The ability to add eight people to a WhatsApp video call – up from four.
• The return of “Live With”, which lets users host Facebook Live streams with another person, to bring guests or performers on to their show.
• The ability to watch Instagram live videos on desktop computers.
• Participants will be able to use augmented reality filters and change their background in real-
