Facebook Brings Reactions to 360° Video on VR

Tech Crunch

The problem with VR at the moment is that it's not hugely social. Yeah, there are activities you can do with friends, but watching 360° videos is still pretty lonely. If you want to watch 2D videos, then that's great, you can watch them with friends. But what's the point in pairing these new technologies together if you can't experience the immersion together?

Facebook haven't exactly found a way around that problem yet, but they have found a way to make the 360° videos on the Gear VR a little more social. The beauty about sharing video online has always been that you can see how people respond to it, but in VR, you wouldn't. You'd just have to hunt the video down on Facebook afterwards to see what people thought. But it does mean that you're experiencing the video all alone. So now Facebook have decided to emulate Periscope and are introducing reactions to the 360° videos. When you watch a video in Gear VR's video app, you'll see reactions pop up through the video and will be able to leave them yourself on different parts of the video. You won't see every single reaction of the video, but just your friends' reactions so you'll be able to start up a conversation on these videos later.

These reactions might have started as just an improvement to the like feature, but it has proven that it could be something a lot more. Allowing people to leave reactions on videos on their headset might not sound like much, but it really is. When you're immersed in a video like this, you don't feel as much there as you'd like. The videos right now still feel like you're just remotely viewing them and knowing that you can't actually touch or talk to anyone on your screen can make you feel a little out of it. These reactions might not be people viewing the videos with you, but it's evidence that you're not the only person who has been there. These reactions are the only way users can do that on a Gear VR as they have no keyboard and no other way to leave their mark.

Admittedly this is only a small start, but it might be the beginning of VR becoming more social, especially when reactions are rolled out to 360° photos in the next few weeks as well.

Rosina Brooker

Rosina is a Songbird writer with a degree in Creative Writing. She's trying to focus on her novel on the side but is glad to be playing around with apps and writing about them in the mean time! Follow her @Songbird_Rosina

Contact us on Twitter, on Facebook, or leave your comments below. To find out about social media training or management why not take a look at our website for more info: TheSMFGroup.com