Working with its recently acquired Oculus VR division, Facebook will soon bring short, immersive, 360-degree videos to your News Feed. That lets you look in any direction within an image, as though you were really there. It’s Facebook’s first project with Oculus to bring VR-like technology to the main service.
How will it work? Simply tap on the computer screen or move your phone around, allowing its gyroscope to make you feel like you’re “in” the video. The feature will debut on Android devices and the web — no iOS yet. Some big names with content in the hopper include Saturday Night Live, Star Wars, Vice, and the Discovery Channel. You’ll be able to do stuff like watch LeBron James work out in gym-sweeping 360-degree video, The Verge reports.
YouTube announced similar functionality back in March, with Facebook announcing similar plans not long after. Facebook hasn’t given an exact date on when this service’ll roll out proper. And sure, it’s not actual virtual reality, but it’s a step in that very interesting direction.. Though I’m not sure how many 360-degree videos of people’s engagement photo shoot I want to be subjected to.