From San Jose, California, Mark Zuckerberg addressed his future projects. In a crowded room of the Facebook F8 Conference, the annual social networking league for developers was held, which is an opportunity for Facebook to make the first announcements on its strategy in 2017. What are the major trends and innovations? Unsurprisingly, Facebook has put a spotlight on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
"The augmented reality will help us to mix digital and physical in a new way that will make the physical world better," said Mark Zuckerberg in the first few minutes of his speech.
Facebook finally wants to make a Virtual Reality world.
Facebook unveiled a platform of 'Augmented Reality'
This platform launched by Facebook, whose beta version is already available, will be linked to the camera of our smartphone, and it will be used via Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp. The principle of the new interface of Facebook, called Camera Effects Platform, is similar to Snapchat: It will be adding AR effects to our photos - literally to all our photos.
The creation of AR filters will be open to developers all over the world, hoping to see many blooming on the social network quickly. Thanks to a software called Frame Studios, where everyone can create their frames and basic filters, either for the new platform or for the profile photos.
After the integration of stories with Facebook, it is, therefore, act 2 of the company's strategy for AR, according to Mark Zuckerberg.
Create your own effects
Facebook is also distinguished from Snapchat by the possibilities offered by this platform in augmented reality. The developers will be able to work on photographs, videos, games or artistic projects.
The goal is to maximize the potential of this new platform, notable thanks to a software called AR Studios, which will be accessible to everyone without the knowledge of a single line of code. Simply download a picture or video and learn how to create your own effects, such as Photoshop, but this software will be more complex and will offer more possibilities for Frame Studios.
It can be used to create masks, animated frames and 3D effects, reacting to movements or interactions in live videos.
"It will not happen overnight, but augmented reality will be an extremely important technology," Zuckerberg said. Augmented Reality is not a new phenomenon: The new Snapchat filters or even Pokemon GO apps have been trying out augmented effects from 2009.
What sets Facebook apart from all of these applications? it is the incredible amount of potential users that the social network has on hand. We can assume that this affirmed interest of Facebook for the AR will encourage the developers to delve into this technology.