It’s official. Sort of. Facebook is working on adapting their apps for virtual reality. Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer, made the announcement February 17 at the Code/Media conference in Laguna Niguel. There he said plainly “We’re working on apps for VR.” He seemed to believe that virtual reality would eventually become an everyday way of sharing thoughts and experiences, just as social media has over the past decade.
When asked by Re/code senior editor Peter Kafka whether people will be able to make their own virtual reality content, Cox replied “Totally. You’ll do it. Beyoncé will do it.”
Facebook made its bet on VR very clear last year when they acquired Oculus, and again when they introduced the Oculus Story Studio at Sundance this year. If these bets were sound, it’s only a matter of time before the Oculus technology becomes an integral piece of the Facebook platform as a whole. Just remember what Mark Zuckerburg had to say about virtual reality when the company purchased Oculus. “Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.”
No timeline was provided so for the near future it’s probably safe to expect updates from the social networking giant on its core platform, where users continue to interact in two dimensions at record levels. Cox hinted that the apps won’t come until the market is more saturated, saying not to expect anything “for a while. We’re probably a long way from everyone having these headsets.”
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