Today, Facebook is taking the first step towards making its live streaming applications more immersive with the announcement of “Live 360”.
According to a blog post published today by by product manager Supratik Lahiri and software engineer Chetan Gupta, Facebook will be releasing its first ever live, 360 degree video through a partnership with National Geographic. According to the post, “On Tuesday, December 13 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET, we will be launching Live 360 video on Facebook with National Geographic, live from the Mars Desert Research Station facility in Utah.”
The full synopsis of the event is as follows:
“Over the past 80 days, eight space scientists from around the world have lived in pods simulating every aspect of life on Mars, including total isolation from humanity. As part of our global effort around MARS, National Geographic will be live on Facebook in 360 degrees as the scientists emerge from the pods. We will take you behind the scenes to explore the living quarters, see how the scientists suit up in their space suits, and take a rover out for a spin across the Martian landscape. This first Live 360 will also include a Q&A with a line-up of science experts, writers and thinkers, and will take questions from the Facebook audience.”
This is an intriguing event in its own right, but even more interesting is what this will mean for the average Facebook user. Right now, it seems that only certain Pages will be given 360 Live access as the service begins its initial rollout. A mass release for everyday profiles is not slated to begin until next year.
According to the blog post, “Live 360 video will be available to more Pages via the Live API in the coming months, and we look forward to rolling it out more broadly for all Pages and Profiles in 2017.”
