Having been released nearly three weeks ago, Pokemon GO has managed to take the world by storm, leaving records broken in its path. Tens of millions of people have been playing the augmented reality game and ordinary people aren’t the only ones getting in on some of the fun, with some celebrities admitting they play the game. Well, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook is no different, and has made it clear that he enjoys the game like everyone else, a statement he made during Facebook’s earnings call. Where Facebook announced that they made $6.44 billion in revenue for the second quarter of the year.
Zuckerberg answered a question from an analyst during the earnings call, using Pokemon GO as an example to explain how he sees augmented reality (AR) technology playing a part in the future of his company. According to Zuckerberg, Facebook has invested heavily in augmented reality in addition to virtual reality, smartphones will become the mainstream platform for consumers to view augmented reality content, rather than headsets that people will wear on their faces. He also believes that the MSQRD app acquired by Facebook has a big opportunity to build out of and its a “fun way to augment”. MSQRD is an app that Facebook purchased in March this year to continue enhancing the Facebook video experience as it lets users add animated filters to their videos. MSQRD is an app built by Belarusian startup Masquerade and has face-swapping features and filters similar to those on Snapchat. The app now allows its users to go on Facebook Live from the app itself. Zuckerberg also announced plans to integrate MSQRD into Facebook itself, not revealing much on how the integration will work.
The giant social network company has already invested heavily in the virtual reality sector, having purchased Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014. Oculus is a VR company and is known for its Oculus Rift VR headsets. Zuckerberg sees the Facebook feed to be dominated by VR content in the near future, which will be the next big thing after videos. Facebook predicts that the future of social media platforms involves interacting with friends in a more personal kind of way, but still very digital.