You can now watch a 360-degree video on Facebook, as the social networking giant on Wednesday started rolling out 360-degree viewing to give users a more immersive experience. Users can tilt their handsets to get a different perspective on videos created specifically for this purpose, which uses synced ring cameras to capture videos.
“You’ll be able to hold up your phone and the 360-degree video will follow you as you turn, looking around, to experience things from all over the world like never before,” explains the company’s video engineering director in a blog post.
At launch, publishers offering this 360-degree viewing capability include GoPro, Discovery, and Saturday Night Live.
One such video was published on Wednesday was a teaser trailer of the upcoming Hollywood flick “Star Wars VII: The Force Reckons”. In the video, you get to see a view from the seat of vehicle traversing across a desert landscape. Users on their smartphones can drag their fingers left or right to look around or just the by tilting the handset in the desired direction. While on PCs, they can do so by merely clicking or dragging the video via the cursor.
In addition, there’s also a video sponsored by Google which gives users a ride of the Bristol Motor Speedway in car driven by Dale Earnhatrdt, Jr. While there’s one by Discovery which gives users a chance to dive with sharks. Facebook says more like these will be published in the coming months.
The move definitely has the potential to revolutionize the way we create and view content. With a 360-degree view, Facebook believes it’ll offer users an entirely new way to share their experiences with friends and family online, which earlier wouldn’t have been possible.
“In the future, imagine watching 360 videos of a friend’s vacation to a small village in France or a festival in Brazil — you’ll be able to look around and experience it as if you were there,” adds Saba.
The new 360-degree feature has been added to ‘News Feed’ and is now available on any Web browser along with devices powered by Google’s Android OS. As far as iOS is concerned, Facebook says it’ll be available on Apple’s mobile OS “in the coming months.”
