Facebook May Incorporate Virtual Reality In Social Media Platform

By Jenn Loro - 26 Feb '16 10:30AM

Facebook Exec Mark Zuckerberg recently talked about a surprising twist of social media in the future- the inclusion of virtual reality- in an unexpected appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

His promotional speech is pretty much linked to an ongoing development in Facebook's virtual reality technology following the social network's acquisition of Oculus Rift for a whopping $2 billion.

"Pretty soon we're going to live in a world where everyone has the power to share and experience whole scenes as if you're just there, right there in person. Imagine being able to sit in front of a campfire and hang out with friends anytime you want...,being able to watch a movie in a private theater with your friends anytime you want...,holding a group meeting or event anywhere in the world that you want...And that's why Facebook is investing so much early on in virtual reality," said Zuckerberg as quoted by USA Today.

He added that by incorporating virtual reality into social media platform, Facebook would be able to recreate and redefine social experiences.

In his update at the tech confab, Zuckerberg noted that Facebook-owned Oculus has been gaining ground in the virtual reality market by partnering its Gear VR headset with Samsung's mobile hardware. Currently, Oculus app store offers 200 available games. So far, VR users already reached 1 million hours of video with the VR device as mentioned in a report by The Motley Fool.

Is Facebook's VR Vision the 'Next Big Thing'?

For Zuckerberg, VR offers a more immersive social and diverse gaming experience that 'capture major milestones and events in real time' as reported by Android Headlines.

The social network chief, however, cautioned that VR in social media is still in developmental stage and would require more or less 10 years before attaining its full potential.