Facebook has unveiled Spaces, a new app that will enable users of the social network to join a shared, immersive video call with friends in virtual reality, represented by a personalized avatar.
The app works with Oculus Rift, allowing people to hang out around a virtual reality table, share three-dimensional drawings and use the Rift’s built-in microphone to chat.
And for users without a Rift headset, they can as well join in Spaces by using Facebook Messenger video calling functionality.
For instance, a group of friends living miles apart can act as though they’re hanging out together with Spaces.
While Spaces is Facebook’s first attempt at social virtual reality, and shows the power of combining the social network with Oculus hardware, Facebook Spaces is actually pretty simple - simpler than even Oculus Rooms, which have multiple destinations in a single space.
That's the reason Spaces is limited to just four participants and you can't move around too much once you're in a space.
Albeit, it's pretty impressive and enhances social interaction between people who are Facebook friends, and that's the most important priority.
For now, however, there are just about clip art-like objects that you can grab and play around with (or use as props for your selfies.) Also, you can view 360-degree photos and videos, check out posts from Facebook friends and, yes, use the VR selfie stick.
But that will eventually change, as more people make use of the app they'll really know what types of experiences to build next.
