How to Find Your People on Facebook's Pseudo-Anonymous App 'Rooms'

'Rooms' brings back memories of old-school Internet chat rooms.

ByABC News
October 24, 2014, 10:54 AM

— -- Catering to the obscure, Facebook's new pseudo-anonymous app, "Rooms," lets users geek out on niche topics without ever having to reveal their real identities.

Less than 24 hours after the app launched, a slew of new rooms have been created, covering a spectrum of topics that span from "Mormon Living" to "Men's Speedo Lovers."

The chat room and message board hybrid allows like-minded people to create rooms to discuss any topic of interest. A QR code is generated, which the room's creator can distribute to others as an invitation to join the conversation.

While Rooms doesn't have a discovery feature, Josh Miller, product manager for the app, advised users to search Instagram using the hashtag #Rooms to find public invitations for topics that may interest them.

To use the invitation, users must take a screen shot of the QR code by simultaneously pressing the home and power buttons on their iPhones.

Then, they must open the rooms app, choose "use invite," and find the shot on their camera roll to gain access to the room they wish to join.

Once inside, users are treated to a feed of videos, photos and text on the given topic of interest.

While Facebook has a real name policy, Rooms lets users choose any username they want, and their handles can differ for each room they're a member of.

Miller said Rooms allows people to revel in the sides of themselves that they may not get to show their friends.

"One of the things our team loves most about the internet is its potential to let us be whoever we want to be," he said in a blog post on Thursday. "This can be liberating, but only if we have places that let us break away from the constraints of our everyday selves. We want the rooms you create to be freeing in this way."

Rooms is available in the Apple app store for users in the United States and United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, Facebook said.