Facebook is now rolling out 360-degree videos as part of its goal to connect users with the “people and things that matter” every day.

According to a blog post by the tech giant, 360 videos will enable Facebook users to learn more about what other people are up to and experience it as if they were there. As well as updates from friends and family, people will be able to discover new content from “media companies, organisations and individual creators”.

The Facebook team have noticed that people tend to gravitate towards more immersive content in their News feeds, and they credit this as one reason why video has been so successful on the channel. Introducing 360 video is a way to take this one step further.

Creating 360 Videos

The videos are created via a special set of cameras which are used to record all 360 degrees of a scene at the same time. Therefore, when the video is playing on Facebook, a viewer can choose which angle they want to see it from.

The blog post explained:

“On the web you can do this by dragging around the video with your cursor, and on mobile devices you do it by dragging with your finger — or even just by turning your device.

“You’ll be able to hold up your phone and the 360 video will follow you as you turn, looking around, to experience things from all over the world like never before.”

Early Days

VICE and GoPro are cited as examples of publishers currently sharing 360 videos on the social networking service and, according to the blog post, video creators and storytellers at the “cutting edge of exploring this medium” will also be able to upload their 360 videos over the coming days.

“These videos help show the range of possibilities with this new medium. For example, Disney and Lucasfilm are debuting an exclusive 360 experience from its upcoming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, bringing fans inside the beloved Star Wars universe,” the blog post said.

Those who are using Facebook on the web or on Android should be able to see 360 videos in News Feed soon, and it should be rolled out for IOS within the coming months.

“It’s early days, but we’re excited about the possibilities for 360 video and hope it helps people explore the world in new, immersive ways,” said the blog post.