Will VR's 'emotional' side be appealing enough?
Choosing to cater from childhood memories of his parents sketching the date of his first steps, to him drawing code in his notebook in 5th grade, to now wanting to broadcast 360 videos in real time on Facebook, there have been some astounding predictions for where social media will go in the next few years.
I happened to write in a previous blog that I always thought social media would dive headfirst into the VR space, but not quite like this. If you chose to skip the video linked in the first line, I’ll recap the quick parts for you here.
Samsung partnered with Oculus Rift (owned by Facebook) to bring to life the Samsung Gear VR. For those of you who don’t know – Samsung debuted their device earlier this year and can be purchased online for $99, with the requirement of having to own a Samsung enabled Gear VR phone.
The sole point of the Gear VR is for you to be immersed in ‘experiences’ as Zuckerberg said in his above speech, earlier this year in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress 2016. The way Zuckerberg saw it…people used to record memories on pen and paper. Then it became photographs. Now it’s become video, and after video came 360 video, and now we’re onto virtual reality.
Mark Zuckerberg is positioning Facebook by investing ahead of the curve. By owning Oculus and helping create software to overcome logistical challenges, Facebook is helping those who share content everyday become producers. With Samsung’s prowess in developing hardware and implementing OLED screens, VR is now better than ever.
SO, WHAT IS ZUCKERBERG’S GOAL EXACTLY?
Mark wants people to use Facebook and share live experiences through VR. He wants people to be able to be fully immersed in a live experience, despite potentially being thousands of miles away.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
It’s not really. Zuckerberg is just looking ahead of the curve and thinks ‘Live’ experiences can produce the emotional side of virtual reality that others tend to think is isolating.
In today’s world, we view VR as being a studded, single-person experience with no limelight to share. You’re on a stage with no one in the audience to share your experience. Some developers, agencies and companies are trying to fix this, like “The Void” which plans to use VR for a multi-person live experience. And while that’s amazing and totally futuristic, VR still has a long hill to climb.
THE TAKEAWAY
Zuckerberg strategically positioned Facebook (and Oculus) between tech-hardware giant, Samsung to craftily take on the VR industry. By using the newest and best tech, with the perfect teams behind them for logistical challenges, Zuckerberg is literally setting the bar where he wants it.
You create the marketplace and then tell people how to shop there. That’s exactly what Mark Zuckerberg is doing.
Mark is telling the world how he wants them to use VR, and it’s for sharing their own personal live experiences throughout their life, easily transporting their friends and family to wherever the broadcaster is. I mean, just imagine strapping a Gear VR on and then broadcasting live to all your contacts on Facebook, where people could join in and leave at any time? Why would you not do that, especially if you were doing something cool, like riding in a hot air balloon in the mountains of Cappadocia?
Kinda puts Meerkat and Periscope to shame don’t ya think?
And now with Facebook’s powerfully new remote airplanes, the current Zuckerberg goal is to disrupt wireless networks everywhere by broadcasting free 5G internet around the globe. Is the goal there so we can all wear VR goggles and live stream an endless amount of ‘live experiences?’
Only time will tell…but stay tuned for what this means for the experiential marketing industry.
Thoughts on the new Facebook plane? Think it’ll have Hellfire missiles or nah? Either way, say hello to ‘Aquila.’ Your friendly neighborhood drone broadcasting 5G WiFi across the planet.
If you’re an interested client or agency looking to utilize virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed-reality then please contact us at: base@inphantry.com or our new business manager Cam at: cam@inphantry.com
As always, follow us on Twitter @inphantry or the author here @camking747
