Facebook Allows To Upload 360-Degree Photos To The News Feed

Finally, Facebook is allowing users upload and view 360-degree photos right in the News Feed. After taking a panorama or 360-degree photo with their native smartphone camera or a third-party app, now users can post said photo directly to the social network, where it will be changed into an image that can be observed on a desktop or any smartphone. The move comes as a part of the company’s ongoing push to support the format, as it positions itself as the go-to destination for immersive content.

Upload a Samsung Galaxy or iPhone panorama, or photo from 360 apps or cameras like the Ricoh Theta just like any other image, and Facebook will change it into a 360 photo. People who see a 360 photo with the compass icon can scan around it by slanting their phone or click/tap-and-dragging. And those with a Gear VR handy can hit the “View in VR” button in the top left the corner, pop their phone into the headset, and look around by moving their head.

Facebook declared that 360-degree photos would arrive in the News Feed last month. Starting today, users will be able to recognize the photos by the compass icon floating in the upper right-hand corner of the image. All they require to do is click and drag on the image to explore the complete environment, or simply move their smartphone around. Besides with the 360-degree video feature that was declared last September, this declaration also comes out of Oculus VR’s desire for more content that can be viewed on the Gear VR headset and Oculus Rift.

It’ll take some time before users hold 360-degree photos in critical numbers, but Facebook clearly gets them as a new creative medium that inspires exploration. “Along with 360 photos from your friends and family, you can discover stunning new 360 photos on Facebook from public figures, publishers, and other organizations,” writes Facebook product manager Andy Huang in the official release. “360 photos give you the ability to take the stage in front of 100,000 fans with Paul McCartney, get behind-the-scenes access to the Supreme Court via The New York Times, visit the International Space Station with NASA, and more.”

Facebook already has publishers and celebrities and lined up to share 360 photos. The user will be able to check out the International Space Station with NASA, look out a crowd of 100,000 fans while standing beside Paul McCartney, or go behind-the-scenes at the Supreme Court with The New York Times.

The social network’s product manager Andy Huang writes that “We introduced photos on Facebook more than a decade ago, and they quickly became one of the main ways that people share their experiences.” But Facebook believes 360, video, and VR are the future of sharing, so the feed is adapting. Possibly one day Instagram will get 360 support too.

Facebook first declared the new feature last month together with the fact that the Samsung Gear VR has 1 million monthly users. But a big difficulty is that users are running out of content to view from the big game and cinematic experience studios.