All doubts have disappeared. Mark Zuckerberg himself took the stage at the Oculus Connect keynote and sent a bold message to the world: The future of Facebook is virtual reality. How will the social network make such a transition? Avatars, telepresence, video calls, facial expressions, collaborative games, 360-degree cameras, and much more. The demo lasted just seven minutes, but that was enough to set the specialized press's radars off.
From Oculus to Facebook VR
When Facebook bought Oculus in March 2014, the biggest question was 'why?'. The idea of combining virtual reality and social networks is not easy to visualize. The Rift was still in its prototype phase on the day of the announcement, but two and a half years later, the rules have completely changed. There are two virtual headsets competing in the market, a third will be launched next week, and several mobile-based solutions are fighting for space. For Facebook, virtual reality is not a whim or a simple future investment: it is its next evolutionary leap. Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at Oculus Connect and gave us a small taste of that evolution. Perhaps... did someone say 'avatars'?
No, the Facebook CEO didn't share any technical details during the demo, and it was likely carefully prepared, but the potential of Facebook VR looks gigantic. Users appear inside the virtual environment as avatars that strongly resemble Nintendo's Mii. In the demo we saw Mark with his friends Lucy and Michael playing chess, then moving to an impromptu fencing session with drawn swords. The avatars' expressions are well done, although a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that they are manually activated, and that later they will explore the integration of secondary features such as voice analysis and gesture tracking. Each avatar has a kind of "virtual smart bracelet" that enables (among other things) changing the virtual environment, sharing videos, and even making video calls. At one point in the demo, Mark received a call from his wife (who appeared on a giant screen), took a selfie with a "virtual selfie stick", and posted it to Facebook. It was even possible to see the Zuckerberg house in 360 degrees, with a dog on the couch and all.
The platform has no official name (we'll stick with Facebook VR until we get more info) nor a release date, but something tells me we'll see more very soon. With this demo, Facebook proposes the idea of turning virtual reality into a global communication platform, combining all the social aspect with very personal experiences. What do you think? Is this a viable development line, or is Facebook wasting time? Comments are open.
