360-degree videos have now begun rolling out in the Facebook News Feed.
With select partners for the launch, Facebook joins YouTube in allowing creators to upload native 360-degree video to the platform. 360-degree video will allow you to play video and be able to choose the angle of what you are seeing. On the web, you can drag around the video with your cursor, and on mobile devices you can do it by dragging with your finger or just turning the device.
Although 360-degree video cameras are still relatively new to consumers and retail, Facebook’s announcement opens up more opportunities for VR and 360-degree video creators to publish their content and inspire future creators to dive in.
Now live on Facebook, select publishers who shared 360-degree videos today include Star Wars, Discovery, GoPro, LeBron James & Uninterrupted, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and VICE. The variety of content shows the possibilities of the new medium and should excite quite a few fans, especially Star Wars fans watching the exclusive 360 experience for the upcoming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Created with Felix & Paul Studios, Uninterrupted unveiled LeBron James Striving for Greatness, as one of the initial videos created for the launch of 360 video on Facebook. LeBron James Striving for Greatness is a cinematic virtual reality experience that transports the viewer into the center of the NBA superstar’s intensive pre-season training. The experience will be released in two different ways: as a series of episodes for FB 360 on Uninterrupted’s Facebook page, and also as a standalone 3D 360° VR experience for distribution on the Oculus platform, sometime mid-November.
Facebook will soon be opening up the ability for other video creators to explore 360-degree video and will allow for the ability to upload to Facebook in the coming days. The 360-degree video capability is currently working on the web and on Android for viewers, with Facebook planning to roll out for iOS in the coming months.
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