Start a video chat with up to 50 people on Facebook

If you use Facebook, it is actually not necessary to switch to Zoom, Google Meet or Skype. Instead, you can just stay on Facebook. This is nothing new in itself, but the feature that you can do this with Messenger Rooms (in German the function is simply video chat, but is sometimes also referred to as a room) with up to 50 other users is relatively new. They don’t even have to have a Facebook account.

The special thing about the rooms is that they persist – even if the host leaves the chat. All participants with Facebook accounts can come and go as they please. Only without an account is one dependent on the host being in the chat.

This feature can be carried out with all common browsers. On the start page you can already see the option under the status input field. If your friends have opened a chat room, they will also be displayed there.

When you open your own video chat, you can then choose the name or purpose of your room, the start time and whether it should be visible to all friends or not. If you set it to visible, it will be shown to friends in Messenger and in the Facebook web app.

Then you have quite a standard repertoire to manage your video chat. From left to right you can get yours [Bildschirm teilen] – [Chatteilnehmer ansehen] – [Kamera ein/ausschalten] – [Mikrofon stumm/anschalten] – [Video-Chat verlassen]. The latter function does not end the video chat. You can do this with the keyboard shortcut instead [Alt + E] cause.

Under the icon with the three dots you will find further settings, such as which devices you would like to use for video chat (camera, microphone, audio output, etc.). Under View chat participants you can also block the room for new participants if you have made it visible to your friends beforehand or if the link has been sent to others.