Upon the launch of Facebook’s ‘Rooms’ app, we were quick to highlight how beneficial the app could be for brands to utilize… if it were to take off. The app is basically Facebook’s mobile answer to Reddit, which as we know is exceptionally popular among the Internet’s many factions.
However, according to a new report from Re/code, the app isn’t taking off as much as previous apps from Facebook have, at least yet. Facebook has been giving a good go of it lately with diversifying their app offerings, like making a Snapchat knock-off, Slingshot, and making an elegant Flipboard-like news reader with Paper. Both of these apps had a good start because they were “the new Facebook app,” and both fizzled from immediate view.
In spite of how much emphasis Facebook puts on accruing user numbers, the same is not true of Rooms, apparently, as they are setting their sites much lower. Josh Miller, Rooms’ product manager isn’t exactly concerned.
“It’s exactly what we expected,” said Miller in a statement to Re/code. Miller says they are hoping to have just 100 “really active Rooms” by the app’s one-year mark.
Perhaps the issue with Rooms then is how it has been promoted. Ostensibly, you’ve heard of the app through publications like [a]listdaily or another tech publication, and unsurprisingly, that demographic is exactly who flocked to the app.
“Like 90 percent if not more of the people who downloaded the app in the first week or so probably did so because they read a story in a tech publication about Facebook’s new app,” he said. “As a result, though, a lot of them peaced out.”
In spite of this, Miller alludes to Facebook taking the wait-and-see strategy with community-building.
“Because we’re at Facebook, people will question [our strategy] if we’re not blowing up after two months,” Miller said. “I have to constantly remind myself that we can’t rush communities, we have to be patient.”
