Facebook Takes Us Back to the Future… But is That a Good Thing?
There’s no denying that Facebook has changed a lot from when it began; not just in terms of design and UX, but user demographics. What started out as a community of University students, is now becoming increasingly populated with the likes of parents, grandparents, old school teachers, next door neighbors, dinner ladies (you get my drift) – who all want to be your friend. This would be fine... if you wanted these people to see your drunken university photo albums and listen to the constant angry rants that some would regard as a status update.
This may be a contributing factor as to why Facebook (albeit still the most used social network globally) has seen a decrease in users, especially teens, using the network in favour of Instant Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat.
And Facebook’s response? If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Of course Facebook already have their Messaging app but their latest expansion, the ‘Facebook Rooms’ app, is a whole new ball game… well a whole OLD ball game.
Facebook are taking users back to the future as they recreate an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) messaging system, much like the ones first used in 1990’s chatrooms. Another similarity to the 90’s is the undertone of anonymity it carries. No existing Facebook account is required, users have the freedom to be whomever they would like to be whilst chatting and they are encouraged to create and join rooms for things they love – whether its food, music, travelling, and invite others to join and contribute, customizing the room as they see fit.
The main features that Facebook Rooms offers are:
- Chat anonymously to other users without the need for an existing Facebook account
- Like IRC, use simple text-based messages to communicate with each other
- Images and videos can also be shared, and liked, by other users
- Scan 2D barcodes in order to join a room
- Create room moderators to filter content, approve posts and ban/block users from re-joining that room
- Age restrictions can be assigned to rooms, although the only verification required is the press of the ‘Yes I’m over 18’ button
Facebook Product Manager John Miller confirms that Rooms drew inspiration from early web communities and IRC, “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…” Users aren’t encouraged to remain completely anonymous, and the anonymity aspect has been downplayed by Facebook, but users are not confined by their real identities and in Facebook’s own words can be ‘whoever they want to be.’ Not even an email address is needed when creating a Rooms presence.
To me, the simplicity and anonymity of Rooms is very nostalgic of, at least, my first experiences with online messaging in the 90’s. But since then, surely the privacy and security settings that have been put in place were put there for a reason? With the migration of a lot of young people from Facebook to Twitter in recent times, I can’t help but think this is parallel to the rise of things such as cyber bullying or ‘Trolling’.
The main issue I have here is that Rooms – although on paper is seen to be building innocent communities discussing hobbies and interests with other like-minded people - removes everything you associate with Facebook. In particular, the ‘security aspect.
The people in these rooms aren’t your friends; in fact they are complete strangers. And with the majority demographic of those migrating away from Facebook in favour of IM applications being teenagers, is it really a smart move to make them instantly susceptible to thousands of strangers so easily via their smartphone? I understand chat rooms such as these are already available to teenagers, but when built by a brand as big and trusted as Facebook, the popularity is bound to increase.
That said, Facebook have assured us they are committed to policing the rooms, stressing content will be monitored carefully and offensive material removed immediately. Hopefully, rooms will highlight the best qualities of anonymity as opposed to the side we are unfortunately more familiar with in society today.
This was originally posted on the SmartFocus.com digital marketing blog - Facebook Takes Us Back to the Future… But is That a Good Thing?