June 28, 2016
TECH TIMES // FACEBOOK USERS CAN NOW USE REACTIONS IN VIRTUAL REALITY FOR 360-DEGREE VIDEOS
Those who browse Facebook in virtual reality can now react to the content they are seeing using the social network’s emojis.
Oculus announced on Wednesday the launch of Facebook Reactions for 360-degree videos on its platform for those who use a Samsung Gear VR headset to view posts on the social network.
No longer does the viewer have to feel a bit lonely when exploring a Facebook video in VR. Instead of feeling like the user is the only one who is seeing what is going on, those with the Samsung virtual reality goggles will now be able to get an idea of what other people think of the content because opinions will appear as Reactions pop up and drift by on the screen.
The feature allows the Gear VR wearer to “like” or react to the video using Facebook’s six emojis that include: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry.
Adding the ability to use Reactions when viewing Facebook 360-degrees provides a way for Gear VR users to comment to video posts since no typing is involved when in virtual reality.
This new feature began rolling out, so those with a Gear VR headset will be able to see Reactions by first updating the Oculus Video app and then viewing 360-degree videos on their Facebook account.
To react to a post, the Gear VR viewer simply has to look at the Like button for a few seconds for the Reaction list to pop up, similarly to how web users hover with their mouse to enable this feature for the web.
Reactions are also expected to roll out for 360 Photos in virtual reality for Gear VR users in the near future. Support for Facebook 360 Photos was previously added to the Oculus platform back in May.
This might seem like a small update, but it shows the significance of how the Facebook-owned Oculus will continue to add new features to its platform as it relates to the social network in VR.
Gear VR users are able to view a personalized feed of stories in the Facebook app, and this new feature makes the Facebook experience on this platform a bit more social.
Support for 360 Photos for Facebook using Gear VR will be available in the “coming weeks.”
Oculus recently announced it reached its 1 million user milestone, meaning this is a whole lot of people who can start enjoying the new Facebook feature.