Facebook Closer To Bringing Virtual Reality To The Masses With New Feature
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said virtual reality is the future. Now the social network is rolling out a feature that lets users upload 360 degree photos to the News Feed.
Facebook says hundreds of millions of photos are shared on the platform each day. The social network says it's introducing 360 photos so users can share more immersive views of their world.
Sovanna Mam is the president of Greenfish Labs -- a content creation company in Philadelphia that focuses on virtual reality.
"Facebook is heavily invested in the Oculus technology which is the proprietary software that allows consumers to experience VR 360 video on their smartphone and through head mounted devices," she says. "Facebook brought Oculus for over $2.4-billion about two-and-a-half years ago, and they are now pushing 360 video and 360 photos on to the Facebook platform and this is all directed at someday getting viewers to spend money on Oculus Rift and the platform."
The advantage of 360 photos is that pretty much anyone can take one. Simply take a panoramic photo with your phone or capture a 360-degree photo using a 360 photo app or 360 camera, and then post it on Facebook as you would a normal photo.
From there, Facebook will convert it to a 360 photo.
Beyond News Feed, the company says you'll also be able to explore Facebook 360 photos in virtual reality with the Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus.
But when it comes to the adoption of VR, Mam says content is key:
"You can have all the toys and gadgets, but if there's nothing for people to watch then no one is going to really care. So what's going to drive the acceptance of 360 video is by content creators and brands and producers and storytellers in general creating unique and immersive content that people are going to want to experience inside a virtual reality world."
360 photos are easy to identify in News Feed. There is a compass icon on the right hand side of the photo.
