The wildcard asterisks represents the 10 digit unique Zoom conference ID and the ‘j’ that juxtaposes between the Zoom call URL and the meeting code stands for ‘join’ I believe (this is useful to help remember the format).Īnd there are two very fertile sources for finding these links:Īlthough the last few weeks have seen a number of Facebook Groups open dedicated to promulgating member-submitted Zoom meets, the amount of meetings these resources spotlight simply pales in comparison to what you can identify using Twitter.

Having participated in more Zoom calls than I can count over the past year, I noticed fairly quickly that all Zoom invite links follow a common URL structure.

Meetups for those in a similar occupation, such as freelance writers.

Searching for /j on Twitter unleashes a torrent of results - there’s a new link roughly every 5 seconds.Īlthough Zoom has wisely adjured that publicly posting an invite link and password to a dial-in is a good way to invite digital gatecrashers (trust me, it is!), there are plenty of legitimate Zoom video conferences that are open to the general public. And as it turns out, the answer is a lot! So, in addition to holding weekly marathon Zoom meetings with friends from Ireland (a screenshot from last night’s dial-in is above), I have been exploring what else Zoom has to offer. (Besides buying some good headphones and a white noise machine my all-time top work from home tip is get out at least once a day!).Īlthough my social isolation is thankfully not also a solitary one, being removed from society for just a few weeks has brought with it a strong craving for human connection - and sometimes forging new connections can be as effective as rekindling old ones. A meeting facilitated by finding random Zoom links onlineįor those of us answering the call of the #stayhome movement (a large chunk of the world now), the long days and nights of social isolation can present us with the conundrum of how to fill all those hours within the confines of our living spaces.ĭespite the fact that I have largely worked from home for the best part of 18 months now, both staying home all day and during most of the weekend are new and unwelcome changes for me.

Random zoom links