Facebook has launched a hub for 360 photos and videos, as the social media giant continues to double down on video.
The company rolled out the Facebook 360 app for Samsung Gear VR on Wednesday as a way to make it easier to discover 360 media. It’s Facebook’s first ever app dedicated to virtual reality.
There will be no shortage of content for the app, according to Facebook. There have been more than 1 million 360 videos and 25 million 360 photos posted on the site to date, and Facebook is actively encouraging users to share more original video with the recent addition of a video tag on its mobile app.
Facebook 360 will be available in the Oculus app for Gear VR devices and features four feeds at launch. The “explore” feed works much like Instagram’s version, showing users popular content from creators. Or, users can view photos or videos their friends have posted in the “following” feed. There’s also the option to save media or re-watch photos and videos you’ve created.
From the app, users can pull up information about the 360 photos and video and react to to them. The can also share them to Facebook. The company said it will add more social features going forward.
In addition to pushing video, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg called a “megatrend” earlier this year, the app taps into Facebook’s affinity with VR. When the company bought Oculus in 2014, Zuckerberg said he saw VR becoming “a very meaningful thing as a computing platform.”
While Facebook has lead the charge with 360 video, other companies have been catching up to the trend. Also on Wednesday, Vimeo added the ability to upload 360-degree videos, tapping into its user base of independent filmmakers. CNN, meanwhile, announced a dedicated team to creating 360 coverage of major news events. Rather than publishing on Facebook, however, the news organization plans to share its content on its own iOS and Android apps.
