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Facebook Rooms
- c2prods 12y agoIt seems not to be available anymore :(
- ihuman 12y agoWhat do you mean? The website works for me, and links to the iOS app store.
- boqeh 12y agoAttempting to install from the app store pushes an error saying it's no longer available.
- barumrho 12y agoIt's possibly only available in the US. It's not available in Canadian App Store :(
- prezjordan 12y agoSame here. Pretty unfortunate launch.
- shivbhadragohil 12y agoIt's launched only for US now.
- tomelliott 12y agoIt's launched in the UK as well. I suspect for all those seeing 'unavailable' it's just taking time to propagate through Apple's systems.
- RoboTeddy 12y agoI'm in the US and I see this error too
- ChrisArchitect 12y agowhat is the difference between this and groups or pages? arrrrrrrrgh
- ChrisArchitect 12y agowhoa, for one, I just understood that it's standalone, no connection to fb. Interesting. And/or external waste of service
- constantinum 12y agoThis explains > "Facebook’s Rooms App Is a Flashback to Internet Bulletin Boards" http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-app-is-a-flashback-to-internet-bulletin-boards/?ref=technology http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-app...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- gearoidoc 12y agoI visited the website twice and still don't really have an idea what this app does. Localised Pinterest is my current guess? :\
- constantinum 12y agoFacebook’s Rooms App Is a Flashback to Internet Bulletin Boards http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-app-is-a-flashback-to-internet-bulletin-boards/?ref=technology http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/facebooks-rooms-app...
- dragonwriter 12y ago> Facebook’s Rooms App Is a Flashback to Internet Bulletin Boards A flashback? Wouldn't internet bulletin boards have to have gone away for it to be a flashback to them?
- mkoller 12y agoLooking forward for an android port.
- gailees 12y ago"The item you tried to buy is no longer available."
- calbear81 12y agoSo it's kind of like 4Chan?
- valarauca1 12y agoMore like Reddit meets Geocities. Or a bulletin board, also knonw as BBS. Which is kinda like 4chan. Early forums grew out of the BBS/Usenet experience.
- poopsintub 12y agoMore like an AOL Chat Room? A/S/L?
- minimaxir 12y agoRooms is analogus to Slingshot: both apps are cheap clones of popular apps (Whisper/YikYak and Snapchat respectively) with an extra dose of quirky-and-random to appeal to the younger demographic. I expect Rooms to see the same success as Slingshot. That is, none at all.
- clay_to_n 12y agoThis is not a clone of Whisper nor Yik Yak.
- ropiku 12y agoDid it get pulled or not propagated correctly ? I get "The item you tried to buy is no longer available." on US Appstore.
- berberous 12y agoWorks for me. Searched for Facebook, clicked Related, scrolled to the right to find it, and now it's installing.
- EasierLikeThis 12y agoI get the same message.
- cloudwalking 12y agoI get this message as well.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- OedipusRex 12y agoThis is like GroupMe and YikYak had a child and they decided they needed to add "rooms". I don't see this going anywhere.
- pizza 12y agoYeah? Not even with Facebook's massive userbase? Features alone never guarantee success. If only .1% of Facebook's users used it, that would be a million users.
- jessaustin 12y agoBy the same token, when something is pushed to all those users and makes relatively little impact, that's a huge opportunity cost for FB. Each time they try something new, it will alienate some users, whether they just visit FB less or stop using altogether or whatever. They would prefer that new products/services make up for that one-time user cost with compensating increased "stickiness" for other users over time, or some similar benefit. They can't annoy their userbase without limit. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part...
- fizzbar 12y agoLike the roaring successes of Home, Paper, and whatever that Snapchat clone thing was...?
- OedipusRex 12y agoThe difference between "going somewhere" for a new product and "going somewhere" for a product with an already large userbase is not the same. When you have the numbers Facebook has getting 0.1% of those users is not "going somewhere".
- consultutah 12y agoFacebook takes on Reddit, et. al.
- josefresco 12y agoMore like if you invented a sub Reddit/interest clone today, this is what it would be (an app instead of a website).
- Napapijri 12y agoInteresting to see all these Facebook projects. Looks like this one could be the most promising yet.
- uptown 12y agoBased on what?
- miguelrochefort 12y agoFunny guy.
- clay_to_n 12y agoI made a Hacker News room, if nothing else so that people can test an actual room when they see this comment thread. http://imgur.com/Jl3siZt http://imgur.com/Jl3siZt
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- miguelrochefort 12y agoA poor imitation.
- eva1984 12y agoDownloaded this app out of curiosity, but deleted it 10 minutes later after failing to find an entrance but stuck at some weird barcode pages...Anyone with me?
- api 12y agoRooms - participate in an unpaid focus group for your favorite products!
- carrotted 12y agoWorks for me! Made a subreddit for sharing invites to rooms: http://reddit.com/r/roominvites http://reddit.com/r/roominvites Here's one for San Francisco: http://i.imgur.com/qkks5gt.jpg http://i.imgur.com/qkks5gt.jpg
- eridius 12y agoThe coloration thing is cute, but it really breaks the invite system. I couldn't for the life of me get it to scan the San Francisco invite. Until I popped it open in Acorn and changed the green to black. That worked really well. San Francisco invite that works: http://i.imgur.com/87rGMHw.jpg http://i.imgur.com/87rGMHw.jpg
- goblin89 12y agoQuite unexpected on the part of Facebook, and looks like an interesting project. A couple of points on their Privacy page bothers me, though: > Once you confirm your account, you may delete content you have posted at any time. <…> > To sign up for Rooms, you may provide us with information such as an email address and usernames. <…> > We may share information about you within the companies and services operated by Facebook to understand and improve our services [but the information from Rooms won't be posted to Facebook and vice-versa]. It'd be more fun if you couldn't delete your content (so that messages posted a while ago don't lose their context), but instead you could be absolutely anonymous (not even having to provide valid email address, which per above will quite likely be matched with your Facebook account at some point).
- k-mcgrady 12y ago>> "It'd be more fun if you couldn't delete your content (so that messages posted a while ago don't lose their context), but instead you could be absolutely anonymous (not even having to provide valid email address, which per above will quite likely be matched with your Facebook account at some point)." If they did that people would be complaining that Facebook won't let them delete their data.
- goblin89 12y agoPeople most certainly would complain in either case, no arguing here.
- ha470 12y agoYou can be totally anonymous - don't need to provide email to use the app
- jellicle 12y agoYou'd have to work a lot harder than that. Facebook knows a LOT about you.
- simi_ 12y agoThe deleted content could be replaced by "[deleted]", like on imgur/reddit.
- Robadob 12y agoShame that it's currently ios only. Any chance of a web/android app, or is this purely an experimental product for the time being?
- nacs 12y agoIt's from "Facebook Creative Labs" (https://www.facebook.com/labs https://www.facebook.com/labs) so I'm sure this is more experimental at this point.
- nissehulth 12y agoThis. Clicking a download link and being redirected to iTunes won't make my Android devices happy.
- pavel_lishin 12y agoKind of annoying that it's mobile- and apple-only.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- fragmede 12y agoIsn't this Instagram/Vine?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- pepitogr 12y agoWhat is the room for not buying anything at all? I don't want to share interest in any product. I would like to see an ancient greek thinker comming to one of theses rooms and wondering what are people talking about here.
- dude_abides 12y agoRoom for Fantasy Football Sit/Start Advice - http://i.imgur.com/OVOLbjP.png http://i.imgur.com/OVOLbjP.png
- 149093 12y agobrqiwafqu23ddas06s43fys600274sdkfsfshfhajrdad43bdstd e65wvw5372gd9
- stefan_kendall3 12y ago"The item you tried to buy is no longer available." They pulled it.
- michaelmior 12y agoSeems quite similar to what I was once working on at Bunch[0]. [0] http://www.joinbunch.com/ http://www.joinbunch.com/
- thatusertwo 12y agothats what I thought of when I saw this.
- michaelmior 12y agoCool :) Haven't really run into many on HN familiar with this. We popped up on TC a couple times and managed to get a few thousand users. The cold start problem is tough one to crack though and things ultimately didn't pan out. It's going to be interesting to see how Facebook, Inc. leverages Facebook for Rooms since they have the same problem there.
- zabramow 12y agoI also thought of Bunch. We were/are doing something related (but not really) at ReplyAll.me so I had kept track of your company. Were you a dev there?
- michaelmior 12y agoYup. I built the first version of the site and the iPhone app some time ago.
- zabramow 12y agoCool, would love to pick your brain sometime.
- michaelmior 12y agoYou can reach me via email if you wish :) http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01v7T3-5hK7BZ7HyIYEb1PSQ==&c=8XNMHvCnbvD9IdVKeTWtGw== http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01v7T3-5hK7BZ7H...
- Jamie452 12y agoA room for those in London. Londoners - http://i.imgur.com/zlnB5AR.png http://i.imgur.com/zlnB5AR.png Come and join in :)
- berberous 12y agoThe UX is so silly. Give me a list of damn rooms I can join, or a search feature. I'm all for the screenshot invite method as an additional feature, but it's a terrible onboarding process and I think will make many people not bother.
- bduerst 12y agoThis would be amazing if there were indexed public rooms, or even rooms tied to geo-locations that you could join because they were based solely in your area. The coded invite-only kills it.
- knicholes 12y agoHoly shit! It's IRC.
- kosei 12y agoWithout usernames like 19834839392...
- wdewind 12y agoYou're thinking ICQ.
- kosei 12y agoOops. Saw the wrong letters. :-)
- nissehulth 12y agoNot that far off anyway, AOL did own ICQ for a number of years, sold it 2010 if my memory serves me right.
- fourstar 12y agoFacebook is the quintessential AOL 2.0.
- doctorKrieger 12y agofacebook - the collection of the most creative minds on earth right?
- conception 12y agoIt seems more like old Facebook Pages. Join "Guinea Pigs Are The Best, RITE?!?" and talk to other like minded individuals today!
- xellisx 12y agoIt would have been better if they threw up an IRC server and built an app around that.
- Jamie452 12y agoProgrammers A room to talk about your recent projects, upcoming hackathons/events, or to simply ask for help! Let's kick this thing off! http://i.imgur.com/FIRg6zl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/FIRg6zl.jpg
- espadrine 12y ago> "Screenshot & open Rooms app to enter" This is the worst hyperlink system I have seen, ever. I both cannot click to get to it, and it is designed to look like a QR code, yet I cannot take a snapshot of my own phone's screen apart from a clunky use of a mirror (which probably doesn't even work). The fact that there is no Web frontend is obviously an abysmal choice. Beyond that, the idea behind this app is amazingly great.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- Jamie452 12y agoI completely agree that the invite process sucks.. theres no discovery/trending feed either - which would be handy for getting exposure for your room!
- tomhschmidt 12y agoIf you screenshot the pic or save it to your camera roll, Rooms will automatically add you to the room. It's effectively the same as taking a picture of the QR code.
- jonknee 12y agoExcept nothing happens when you take the screenshot or save it to your camera roll. It's an awful UX.
- colinbartlett 12y agoThat's the point at which I deleted the app. Not really interested in it enough to go through such a strange onboarding process.
- siavosh 12y agoHmm, is there no facebook login option or requirement? Not that it's a bad thing.
- 13throwaway 12y agoFrom what I can tell it seems like room names are not unique. I think this is the reason for the "join by screenshot" feature.
- rossfishkind 12y agoDesigners A room to talk about design, tools and tricks of the trade, projects, etc. http://i.imgur.com/c6qURmx.png http://i.imgur.com/c6qURmx.png
- darkstar999 12y agoHow can anyone justify building an iOS-only app when it's only 11% of the market, while Android is 84%?
- Glyptodon 12y agoiOS users have more income and time to waste probably.
- kondro 12y agoUltimately, because it's easier. I was speaking to a friend recently about writing iOS & Android apps and their Android apps literally take 4x longer than their iOS apps to build because of hardware fragmentation. As in, bugs in the hardware of phones like the SGS3 (still a very large portion of the market) causing them to have to implement massive workarounds and complete full testing on actual hardware devices.
- acheron 12y agoI love how this comment appears every time there's an app announcement here. Face it, if you want the earliest access to new mobile apps, Android is the wrong platform.
- darkstar999 12y ago"face it" as if my comment implied that Android users are entitled to it? That's just the attitude I would expect from an Apple fanboy.
- aves 12y agoYou can't run a decent app on half of those $100 Android 'smartphones'.
- notatoad 12y agoBecause those numbers grossly misrepresent reality. In north american usage stats its often more like 80-20 iOS. Android devices are out there, but they're largely still just being used as phones. iOS users are much more likely to actually use their phones for things like hanging out on random facebook social experiments.
- casebash 12y agoFacebook's strategy to create separate apps is a good one, but Rooms seem rather niche. Facebook groups are better for many purposes since they have access to notifications and the newsfeed. Reddit probably works better for large groups and allows anonymity too (though not on a per Reddit basis). So Rooms work for groups where anonymity is valuable (ie. sharing secrets, controversial opinions, ect) and where the groups aren't too large. Here, the discovery mechanism being overly complex actually does provide an advantage. It makes it more likely to be "underground" and hence cool.
- bduerst 12y agoI disagree - Rooms seems like it is trying to do too many things at once. The discovery mechanism is QR codes, which wasn't "underground" enough to boost any marketing or advertising activities that were based on them. In fact, because each room's value relies on user-generated content, I have a feeling that this will be short lived, if only because it is so difficult to get more users into a room to generate content. One of the reasons subreddits achieved such popularity was because of the extreme ease by which users can find, join, and start submitting. Without clear connections between rooms, all it's going to take is joining a few empty rooms before users become disengaged and start ignoring invites like they do most other QR codes.
- zzyzzx 12y agoSilicon Valley problems: http://i.imgur.com/sxa2F76.jpg http://i.imgur.com/sxa2F76.jpg
- tkoski 12y agoPretty "funny" but just some weeks ago we did a show HN proof of concept: http://spend-a-day.at/ http://spend-a-day.at/ It's the same but mainly for people who are sitting in front of computer all day long. Did I understand right rooms.me is mobile only?
- silconvaleyroom 12y agoSilicon Valley - http://imgur.com/pcfvBXL http://imgur.com/pcfvBXL
- anvarik 12y agoIs it only for US? Cause I live in Germany and I can't find it in the Appstore & Facebook Inc's list.
- human_error 12y agoI don't think so. I didn't try to download but I can see it on Appstore.
- michh 12y agoUgh. I'm in .nl and our app store still doesn't have Facebook Paper, it's been available in the US store for ages now.
- zabramow 12y agoNot sure I understand the need. Aren't there enough places on the Internet where you can connect with people around shared interests?
- sswaner 12y agoIf you maintain a social graph database with a billion+ nodes, a feature like this will be a great tool for determining the more relevant relationships among users.
- BaptisteGreve 12y agoI can't find the app on the french AppStore
- mrwnmonm 12y agowhy some people like to be anonymous in social networks?