Discovery, Tools and Insights

As 360 video continues to grow and engage millions of people on Facebook, we're continually working to improve how 360 video is discovered in News Feed, the experience for users once they've engaged with a video, and finally the insights that video publishers receive, enabling them to keep experimenting with, and improving their 360 video content.

Discovery

We've introduced some common features to help your audiences recognize your 360 videos and learn how to explore them.

Firstly, when people discover a 360 video in News Feed, a new gyroscope animation tells them that the content is different. This animation is shown while the video is loading, and is replaced by the heading indicator when the video is ready to explore.

If a views doesn't tap the video or move their device within four seconds a helper animation prompts them to move their phone and explore the scene. This improved UI lets publishers concentrate on creating compelling videos without needing to add instructional text.

In addition, we've added a heading indicator that shows the viewer the current direction of view relative to the video's initial orientation, as well as the current zoom level. If Guide is enabled, the heading indicator will show the viewer whether they're in an automated guided view, or exploring freely. If they opt out of Guide, viewers can simply press the heading indicator to resume the automated view.

Tools

When you identify a video as being filmed in 360° you'll see a new tab called '360 Controls' in your editing view. From here you can edit the way your video appears in feed, and enable Guide to help your audience explore your video without missing any key moments.

Set the Pitch, Yaw and Field of View to control the direction your viewer faces when the video begins.

Guide lets you set the narrative for your 360 video by highlighting specific points of interest in the field of view over the course of your video. If you decide to use Guide, once you select these points, people who view your video will automatically be directed around the video as it plays, ensuring that they don't miss the action—whether that's a diver plunging into the water or a shark swimming up behind them.

To use Guide:

When people watch your video, Guide will be turned on by default—your video will automatically pan around to your points of interest as it plays. Viewers who prefer to not watch via Guide can simply pan or swipe out of the scene to explore the full 360-degree view on their own. If they'd like to return to the guided experience, tapping the heading indicator on the right side of the video (which will say “Auto” whenever Guide is turned on) will bring back the Guide

Insights

Heatmap is an insights tool that helps you understand which parts of your 360 video your audience finds most interesting. It shows you the specific portions of the field of view that audiences have spent the most time watching, displayed as a visual map that highlights the “hottest” parts of your video. This information is pulled from aggregate data of our view ports, measuring every time your viewer moves 30° within the scene. For publishers who opt to use Guide, the insights you glean from Heatmap can also help inform how you select your points of interest in Guide.

Heatmap will be available for any video posted after May 1 that has more than 50,000 unique viewers. To see your Heatmap for a specific video, visit your Video Library under Publishing Tools, then click on the video you'd like to learn more about. You'll find Heatmap under the Video Insights tab for that video.

Learn more about the other Video Insights available to publishers here.

Give feedback on your Facebook 360 experience

Join us in our Facebook 360 Community Facebook Group to engage in the daily 360 and VR conversation and give us feedback to improve the Facebook 360 experience!