Facebook’s Future Is In Virtual Reality, Mark Zuckerberg Gives Details At 2015 F8 Conference

At F8, a two-day Facebook developers’ conference in San Francisco which started March 25, chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed the newest upgrade to the social media’s platform – spherical videos.

These videos give users an interactive experience to watching videos by allow them to view it from different vantage points. Recorded with specialized cameras, spherical videos are not yet popular, but they are expected to be a big thing in the coming years as affordable 360-degree cameras will be sold in the market.

In his speech, Zuckerberg contrasted the Facebook of the past and of the present. He described the content of Facebook five years ago to be mostly comprised of text, status updates and wall posts. He then compared it to the Facebook that we have in the present which is filled with photos and visual content.

“If you fast forward five years it’s gonna be video. And if you look out even further beyond that it’s probably going to be even more immersive content like [virtual reality and augmented reality],” he said.

This enhancement came about after Facebook acquired virtual reality firm Oculus last year. The start-up, which was founded in 2012, is noted for its development of the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift. Virtual reality is commonly associated with gaming but Zuckerberg asserted that “immersive videos” will be more engaging.

Another Facebook upgrade that many are anticipating to hear about is Facebook at Work. This new improvement is not yet available but is currently being taken on a test drive by volunteer companies. Basically, Facebook at Work is an office-friendly version of the platform which enables colleagues to conveniently communicate with each other.

The Facebook messenger will also be seeing business-friendly improvements. With Messenger Business, users can easily track the shipment and return of goods purchased online. This upgrade will go well together with the platform’s newest enhancement, which was just announced last week. Using the messenger app, Facebook users can now transfer money online. For the moment, this service is only available in the United States, but the expansion of its scope is foreseen in the future.

Several sessions during the event are also focused on the discussion of developing the platform’s newsfeed. Over the years, Facebook has been overshadowed by Twitter in terms of providing real-time news to users. Because of this, the company introduced the ‘Trending’ feature which will be discussed further in the conference.

[Image via YouTube]