Facebook Live has given folks around the world the ability to broadcast themselves from wherever they like, but for the majority of live streams, it’s less a question of can you and more should you?
I once watched a Facebook Live where a really, really stoned bloke ate 3 ice creams in a row. He certainly had the means to broadcast that feat of flagrant overindulgence, but should he have? Probably not.
This morning, the creator of the platform himself, Mark Zuckerberg, broadcast a live video from virtual reality, which sounds cool in theory, but really just felt kinda awkward. Introducing himself and his colleague, Rachel, who runs the social virtual reality team, most of what followed was janky and strange.
Don’t get me wrong, the concept itself is neat – getting together in a virtual meeting space that can be wherever you want, like the moon, is one thing, but it takes video calls to a new level and puts people who are at different geographic locations in the same place. Powerful stuff.
But the problem with virtual reality is the experience doesn’t translate to a normal video. Instead, it just felt… Really awkward. My favourite part was the weak high five they did around 2:50. You can check out the stream below.
In terms of what they’re discussing, Mark has some great insights into how Facebook have used machine learning and AI to assist The Red Cross in helping the people of Puerto Rico by mapping locations that have been affected by infrastructure damage.
The stream cuts off mid-sentence but starts again in another video for some reason. You can see the second one below.
I’m a big fan of virtual reality and I can’t wait for it to be used in everyday life, but that’s gonna take some time, from a technological standpoint as well as a social one. As you can tell from the above, we’re just not there yet.
