Snapchat is betting big on augmented reality going forward, but Facebook’s own photo-sharing app, Instagram, might be heading down the path of VR instead.
Talking to Bloomberg’s Studio 1.0 show, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom stated that VR headsets could play a “critical role” within the company in the near future. Systrom said that the company’s vision was to let people travel “anywhere in the world at a fraction of a second”. He then gave examples of letting people put on a headset to immediately find themselves at a Coldplay concert, visit protests and riots or simply attend a friend’s wedding.
“That’s the kind of experience we love to create and I think virtual reality in the coming years will play a critical role in seeing that vision come true,” Systrom said.
Instagram hasn’t yet announced any support for VR headsets. It’s easy to picture the company one day hosting 360 degree images and videos, however. This type of content is captured with with multi-sensor cameras that stitch content together, providing a panoramic view either from a browser or inside a VR headset. Popular platforms like YouTube and Facebook’s own media sharing services already support the format. In fact, it’s a little surprising that Instagram itself hasn’t already integrated it.
What isn’t surprising is that Systrom is so bullish on VR; Facebook of course also owns Oculus and its Oculus Rift. The social networking giant has been doing its own experiments with the tech, recently revealing an experience in which friends could meet up, appearing as animated avatars closely resembling their real world selves. They could then travel to different locations, represented as 360 degree images and videos and interact with each other, play games and even make video phone calls. It’s not known when these features will be available to others.
As for Instagram, hopefully we’ll see some sort of VR support in the near future.
