The Periscope logo is displayed on the screen of an Apple Inc. iPhone 6 as the video streaming site unit of Twitter Inc.'s internet homepage is shown on a laptop screen, in this arranged photograph taken in London, U.K., on Friday, May, 15, 2015. (Photo : Getty Images/Chris Ratcliffe)
Twitter is launching their very own 360-degree videos via the Periscope app. The microblogging site seems to be stepping up to Facebook's similar feature that has already been launched for quite some time now.
Video has become a huge part of social media after smartphones became better in terms of their cameras and mobile data speeds increased. Moreover, there are also people who gain followers because of their videos online. Facebook knows the value of video and they are making it easier for users to share their content through their apps.
Twitter is now following the footsteps of the social network giant. Alessandro Sabatelli, who is the Director of AR and VR at Twitter, said in a statement obtained by Forbes that their users can now view or watch 360-degree videos from other users on the site.
"When you see a video marked with a LIVE 360 badge, you can interact with it to change what you see by moving your phone or swiping the screen, all while watching live," Sabatelli said. Users do need to note that the uploading of 360-degree videos is currently limited to some partners for now.
Periscope is the app used for taking and uploading the videos to Twitter. The Periscope team said in their blog post that the uploading feature will become available soon in the following weeks as they are still carefully testing with select partners. In addition, not all users can really upload 360-degree videos since they would need 360-degree cameras as well and they are still expensive at the moment.
Virtual reality is slowly taking off in terms of gaming and casual entertainment. Smartphone users can view 360-degree videos just by rotating their phones or simply swiping on the screen. Twitter's decision to support the feature through Periscope is a step towards increasing the VR content for everyone.
Watch an example of a 360-degree video below:
