Facebook continues to embrace virtual reality (VR) on its ubiquitous social networking platform with 360-degree video support for iOS. Zuckerberg’s big blue is also opening up its VR platform to advertisers, like AT&T, Corona , Samsung, and Walt Disney World, in the form of “immersive stories.”
Facebook already brought these style of video to Android and the web last September, marking its continued interest in ramping up the ways consumers can view advertising and, sure, visit places they’ve not ben in a more immersive way. Facebook also bought VR-tech company Oculus this past March, which is probably why we’re starting to see more of this technology in Facebook’s platform.
You’ll watch these videos and immersive stories with a tap and drag gesture, and you can watch them with VR headsets like Google Cardboard, Samsung’s Gear VR, and — naturally — the Oculus Rift.
According to Techcrunch, Facebook is also partnering with 360-degree camera makers like Giroptic, Theta, and IC Real Tech to make publishing to Facebook super easy.
The house that Zuck built has also launched an invite-only microsite to give would-be VR filmmakers with best practices, uploading guidelines and various FAQs to make sure that the video that appears on Facebook is of the highest quality.
Facebook wants to keep its platform dynamic and exciting, and this is yet another way the company is doing so. What better way to keep eyes on your advertising (sorry, content) than to make it immersive, 3D, and 360-degrees?
Even if Facebook isn’t the ultimate content creator for this kind of video, it can become the ambassador for the technology, kind of like Apple led the way with USB-C, floppy-less computers, and getting rid of the optical drive. Facebook will be the place most of us see these videos, which then lets Facebook drive traffic to advertisers.
It’s win/win, right?
Source: Techcrunch
