Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled today a feature which he believes will bring "new and much more immersive type of content" to your News Feed.
According to CNET.com, the social network announced at its annual developer conference in San Francisco that it will soon support 360-degree videos which allow users to "move through" and view locations from different angles, much like a 3-D game.
Zuckerberg states that these videos are shot with 24 high-resolution cameras working in concert. The plan, he says, is not only to get this immersive experience to your Facebook News Feed, but also to its Oculus Rift headset.
Acquired by Facebook last year for $2 billion, the virtual reality company Oculus VR has created goggles that simulate 3D worlds. With this device, users will be able to "teleport" to other locations in an immersive 3D environment.
"You're going to be able to put on your headset and feel like you're really there," Zuckerberg said.
Although Oculus still makes virtual reality goggles for developers at a price of $350, the company has widened its scope to include live-action scenes, animated films and other experiments.
According to Zuckerberg, Facebook's 1.3 billion users are shifting from sharing images and text to videos, with a total of 3 billion videos shared a day. Much like Google, with its Google Glass eyewear, and Microsoft, with its HoloLens headset, Facebook believes that the next step is transitioning into an online world that relies on virtual and augmented reality.
Beginning today, the company is asking third-party publishers to create their own spherical videos for sharing across Facebook. These, unlike the ones that will be viewed with the Oculus Rift, will not require a headset.
Facebook's announcement comes fewer than two weeks after YouTube started supporting 360-degree videos. YouTube's videos can only be viewed in the Chrome browser on a desktop or in an Android app.
