houseparty

“Later, Tater!” — at the Neshoba County Fair, a gathering known as “Mississippi’s Giant Houseparty.”

Which brings us to a new confusing phase of the pandemic, caught between crisis and total normalcy, nostalgic for house parties — and Houseparty, too.

Epic Games killed off the group video app Houseparty in late 2021, and even Meta’s Portal devices, which after years of challenges surged in popularity in 2020, got the ax last year.

There were Zoom happy hours with old roommates, Houseparty game nights with distant family members, and virtual reinventions of live performances beamed into living rooms from far-flung cities.

“Most people do not come to Facebook for news” While the News tab itself will remain — you can read about how it works right here — the overall initiative follows podcasts, Novi cryptocurrency, the “Campus” reboot of classic Facebook, and the HouseParty clone Bonfire as projects that came and went in the last few years.