360 degree videos are definitely kicking off. Virtual tours on Google Maps, 360-Degree videos on YouTube, and now, 360-Degree videos are available on Facebook! As of Wednesday, September 23, users on PCs and smartphones can view 360-degree videos.
Check out the following Star Wars clip, one which lets you look around the desolate, war-torn wasteland of a far-off planet, a Saturday Night Live video, which has you join the live audience during its 40th anniversary show, and a GoPro clip which brings you along for a dirt bike ride in the Idaho desert. These videos work in much the same way as they do on YouTube – allowing you to use your mouse cursor to grab the screen and look around in any direction you want. Mobile users can tilt the device to rotate the image or just pan around with your finger.
There’s also a whole world of video creators and storytellers who are at the cutting edge of exploring this medium, and over the coming days they too will be able to upload their 360 videos to Facebook. We’re excited to see more innovative and compelling 360 videos being shared from these publishers.
Right no Facebook 360-degree videos are supported on Android devices via the Google Chrome browser, or on desktop computers using the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox. iOS users are expected to join the club shortly.