Having rolled out support for 360-degree videos last year, the ubiquitous social networking site, Facebook, has now added support for 360-degree photographs in its News Feed, just like it had promised to do last month. The introduction of the new feature will now not only allow users to view panoramic 360-degree images in the News Feed, but those with access to 360-degree cameras like Samsung’s Gear 360 or LG’s 360 Cam, will now be able to upload their own 360-degree images to the social network. Of course, many default camera apps on smartphones as well as a whole host of popular camera apps on the Google Play Store these days have the ability to create panoramic shots as well, but that’s done by stitching together a number of images to get the desired effect.
Either way, whatever be the methodology of snapping those super wide-angle photographs, Facebook should be able to accommodate all of them, now that the feature is being rolled out to the social network’s regular website as well as to its official mobile app. So whether users are accessing Facebook on desktop or on their mobile devices, viewing panoramic wide-angle photographs should be possible for one and all. Those wanting to upload such a photograph need not do anything out of the ordinary either. Just selecting the regular options for uploading images should do the trick. Once successfully uploaded, the only little giveaway for such 360-degree images will be a small compass icon in the corner, suggesting that the image has more to it than meets the eye initially.
One thing to note is that users of Samsung’s Gear VR-compatible mobiles will have the option to view the images with their VR headsets, but as per reports, Facebook isn’t supporting Google’s Cardboard or other competing platforms at this point in time. Of course, Facebook is the owner of virtual reality startup Oculus VR, having acquired it back in 2014 for a reported $2 billion. So Oculus Rift users should also be able to view the images with their newly-acquired virtual reality headsets. Either way, with Facebook now supporting 360-degree videos and images, it joins an elite list of websites including the likes of YouTube and Flickr that also support 360-degree media on their respective platforms.