Facebook Rooms: 5 Privacy Facts

Facebook's new Rooms app lets you post pictures, videos, and messages anonymously. Here's a look at the data it collects, the privacy of your posts, and more.

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Facebook on Thursday launched a new app called Rooms, a space inspired by throwback Web communities, where users can post photos, videos, and messages -- all under the guise of a pseudonym.

'Forums, message boards, and chatrooms were meeting places for people who didn't necessarily share geographies or social connections, but had something in common,' said Facebook product manager Josh Miller in the announcement. 'Places where what you said mattered more than who you were and whom you knew.'

The app, which is available now for iOS only, lets users create, manage, and join communities, which are based on interests such as cooking, photography, and music. Rooms lets users upload photos and videos, and post messages without using their real name.

[Catch up on the latest Facebook changes. Read Facebook: 10 New Changes That Matter.]

Rumors swirled earlier this month that Facebook had an anonymous app in the works -- a departure for the social network given its staunch policy on using authentic names. Facebook's Miller said that Rooms' open policy on usernames gives people more freedom to be who they are.

'It doesn't matter where you live, what you look like, or how old you are -- all of us are the same size and shape online,' he said. 'This can be liberating, but only if we have places that let us break away from the constraints of our everyday lives. We want the rooms you create to be freeing in this way.'

Rooms, however, is a Facebook product -- the latest out of Facebook Creative Labs -- and as such, adheres to the social network's Data Use and Cookies policies, as well as its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Before you get started with Rooms, here's what you need to know about the data it may collect, the privacy of your posts, and the control you have over your account.

1. Your account is tied to your email address To log into Rooms, you must provide the app with your email address, which serves as your ticket back into the app if you log out or switch devices. The app doesn't automatically recognize you as a Facebook user --in fact, you can't log into Rooms using your Facebook credentials at all -- so it's not necessary to provide the same email address that you use to log into the social network.

This differs from anonymous applications such as Whisper, which doesn't require an email address to get started. Otherwise, it's nothing out of the ordinary: Twitter, YouTube, and other websites that support pseudonyms require email addresses to sign in.

2. Everything you post is public Room creators can customize a group with a certain level of privacy, including whether or not the room's posts can be discovered in search. Aside from that, however, the app warns

Kristin Burnham currently serves as InformationWeek.com's Senior Editor, covering social media, social business, IT leadership and IT careers. Prior to joining InformationWeek in July 2013, she served in a number of roles at CIO magazine and CIO.com, most recently as senior ... View Full Bio