Facebook announced support for 360-degree videos in its News Feed, enabling users to view and engage with 360-degree video content and giving content creators another outlet for uploading new camera technology’s immersive video experience.
Pictured: Spphericam, which can create 360-degree content
360-degree cameras record all angles of a scene and allow viewers to pan and rotate the perspective of the camera to watch it from different angles. Desktop navigation is accomplished by dragging your mouse across the video, and on a mobile device, this can be done by either dragging a finger across the screen or by turning the device on its side. The advent of 360-degree cameras also effectively enables more applications for VR devices such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, which offer an even more immersive experience for viewing 360-degree video content.
For now, the company is offering support for the new feature on only mobile devices with Android 4.3 or later (with iPhone support in the coming months) and the latest version of the Facebook app, and desktop or notebook systems using Chrome or Firefox. 360-degree videos aren't viewable using Safari, iOS or Internet Explorer (tough break, Apple users).
Cool idea. However, it will be a pain to drag the video back and forth all the time for peeps without VR. I don't see this becoming popular until VR goes mainstream.
