Rooms - Create Something Together for iOS

Rooms from Facebook lets you expand your social circle outside of your friends and family to include people who are interested in the same topics you are. The app allows you to create nicknames and converse on topics with a layer of privacy.

Pros

Use an alias: When you create a room, you don't have to use your real name, which allows you to discuss topics that you might not be comfortable discussing publicly, such as, say, depression. Instead, you can create a nickname, which is the only name others will see.

Socialize based on interests: Rooms lets you create a "room" based on a topic you find interesting. Likeminded people can join your room and post comments and videos related to your topic.

Explore other rooms: The Explore feature lets you find other rooms to join. For example, we found rooms on knitting, home cooking, new moms, and a Japanese skill toy. Tapping the refresh icon in the right corner of the screen populates the screen with a new round of rooms to join.

Cons

Complicated invite process: There are many different ways to share and be invited to rooms, which to us just seemed overly complicated and gimmicky. For example, you can share a room with a friend by letting your friend scan the room from your phone. Another method is to take a screenshot of an invite's QR code. Perhaps the developers are trying to feel out the best way to invite users. Regardless, the app would benefit from a more straightforward invitation process.

Lack of rooms: Rooms is a fairly new app and concept, so there currently aren't a ton of users. That means there aren't a ton of rooms to join. But that should change once the app picks up steam and new users come on board.

Bottom Line

If you are passionate about a topic and want to find others to share and converse with, Rooms is an intriguing offering. As with any Facebook offshoot, we're sure it'll evolve over time. We just hope it evolves with a better invitation process.