But people who saw the photo on TIME magazine's Facebook page Thursday could do more than just look at the image. Using their fingers on a smartphone screen or their computer mouse, they could pan around the 360-degree photo, looking up at the blue sky or peering down at the New York buildings below.
Although that photo was taken with a professional camera attached to an aluminum arm, Facebook said Thursday that its users will soon be able to post their own 360-degree photos by snapping a panorama on their smartphone. Once the panorama is uploaded to Facebook, the tech firm will convert that image into a 360-degree photo.
"The big difference with 360 photos is you can take them with your phone. Just take a panorama or use a 360 camera app, then post it to Facebook and we'll take care of the rest," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post Thursday.
Facebook has been trying to make its site more immersive this year for its 1.6 billion users, rolling out live videos, 360-degree videos and now 360-degree photos.
"Photos can be very expressive and tell a story in a much different way. It's a common medium that we all know well and I think that's one of the reason why you see Facebook, Google and other technology companies focus in on photo and imagery," said Brian Blau, an analyst for Gartner.
If more people engage with 360-degree photos and videos, brands might find a way to use the technology to better reach Facebook users. Facebook, which makes most of its money from ads and owns photo-sharing site Instagram, tends to wait until a new feature becomes popular before trying to make money from it.
"If an ad is hyper-engaging then it becomes really meaningful for you and the brand, depending on what their goals are. I think that's far into the future though," Blau said.
The 360-degree images can also be viewed in virtual reality using the Samsung Gear VR headset, which is powered by Facebook-owned Oculus. The virtual reality company has been trying to bring the technology to more people through a smartphone.
"Now your friends can experience the moments you share in 360 as if they were actually there with you, from hiking through a national park, to wandering through a museum, to celebrating a wedding," Andy Huang, a product manager for Facebook, wrote in a blog post.
Facebook users were able to view 360-degree photos Thursday on the web and their smartphone once they downloaded the latest version of Facebook's app on Apple and Android devices. Facebook is rolling out the ability for people to share their own 360-degree photos on the site over the next few days, Huang wrote.
The images have a compass icon on them and people can explore them by moving their smartphone or dragging their fingers. Users will also be able to upload a 360-degree photo by using an app or camera that support these kind of images.
On the Samsung Gear VR headset, which is powered by Oculus, people can view the photo by clicking on a button on the top left corner that says "View in VR."
Photos aren't the only 360-degree content on Facebook. In September, Facebook started rolling out 360-degree videos. The company also built an open-source 360-degree video camera, which it introduced at its annual developer conference in April.
"360 videos are harder to create from the consumer perspective, and require a bit of investment from brands so it will be interesting to see how the reception toward them continues," Erna Alfred Liousas, an analyst with Forrester Research, said in an e-mail. "Till then we should expect to see Facebook stepping up to share more of this content to inspire brands and start resetting consumer expectations all to pave the way for VR in social networks."
Facebook's 360-DEGREE PHOTOS
Facebook provided the following instructions for taking a 360-degree photo:
1. Take a panorama on your iOS device or Samsung Galaxy phone or capture a 360-degree photo using a 360 photo app or 360 camera.
2. Open the Facebook app and share the photo as you would any other photo: tap the status tool from the top of your Timeline or News Feed, select Photo/Video, choose the photo you want to share, and tap Post.
3. Once your photo is posted, look around in your photo -- or any other 360 photo in News Feed that's marked with the compass icon -- by moving your phone or dragging with your finger. Tap on the photo to view it in full screen.
4. On Samsung Gear VR-compatible phones, you'll see a button in the top left corner of your photo that says "View in VR." If you tap on that button and insert your phone into your Gear VR headset, you can see your 360 photo in virtual reality.
© 2016 San Jose Mercury News (CA) under contract with NewsEdge. All rights reserved.
Source: Facebook Rolls Out 360-Degree Photos
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