Skip to main content

Facebook adds 360 video and photo support to Instant Articles

Facebook is giving publishers the power to make Instant Articles more visually immersive with 360-degree video and photo support.

Launched in May of last year, Facebook Instant Articles are the company’s very own take on Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). The publishing tools essentially allow media outlets and bloggers to host their articles directly on Facebook, with the social network promising faster loading times, ad revenue options, and embeddable “interactive” features. The latter includes a number of visual options, such as high-res photo galleries, navigable maps, and parallax videos that play as you scroll through articles. Now, you can add 360-video and photo support to that already impressive list.

Recommended Videos

Thanks to the availability of 360 cameras, more creators, publishers, and filmmakers are utilizing the visual format to enhance their work. From awards shows to documentaries, 360 videos are increasingly making the news, but navigating them on a mobile display hasn’t been as easy as it is on desktop. Starting today, that’s all going to change, on Facebook at least.

Now, when you access an Instant Article via the Facebook mobile app for iOS and Android, you will be able to watch its 360 media content by simply tilting and panning your smartphone to guide the action. The visuals will appear in-line with the article, and can be expanded to full-screen with a tap. If you want to keep things traditional, you can also touch and drag the media to the section you wish to view, or (if the publisher has enabled Facebook’s 360 guide feature) you can simply sit back and let the video pan to the best point-of-view.

Facebook media partners USA Today and German paper Bild have already started adding 360 media to their Instant Articles. The former utilized the format within its piece on National Parks, with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns narrating the 360-video segments. Bild used 360 videos in its visual tour of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. Publishers can add multiple 360 videos and photos to each Instant Article.

“Instant Articles is a complementary canvas for 360 media,” writes Josh Roberts, Product Manager, Facebook. “Journalists and storytellers can share richer stories and paint more vivid scenes by joining 360 content with other Instant Articles elements.”

Saqib Shah
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more