360-degree photos are coming to Facebook News Feed

Facebook photos are set to get a lot more immersive.

The social network will soon add support for 360-degree photos to its News Feed, Facebook announced Wednesday. 

The new 360-degree photos will function a lot like Facebook's 360-degree videos. You can change your view of the photo by dragging you finger (or cursor, if you're on a browser) around the screen or holding your phone at a different angle.

The feature will support images shot with 360-degree camera, like Rioch's Theta S, as well panoramic shots captured on smartphones. 

And, like their video counterparts, the 360-degree photos will also be viewable from Samsung's Gear VR headsets. 

Speaking of the Gear VR, Facebook also plans to make some changes to the Oculus mobile app. The app will soon be updated with a new "what's new" section, meant to highlight the latest games and videos. Later, in June, the company plans to revamp the design of Oculus' home screen on Gear VR to make it easier to find recently-downloaded items. 

The Oculus-powered Gear VR has only been out for about six months but Facebook says it has already exceeded many of their initial expectations. Though we don't know how many headsets Samsung has shipped since its launch, Facebook says more than a million people used the Gear VR last month alone. 

Facebook also revealed some new stats around Gear VR content. There are now more than 250 apps for the headset (one of our biggest initial complaints about the Gear was the lack of apps) and 21 games that initially launched on the Gear but are now also available for the Oculus Rift headset.

Of the apps and games currently available, VR video continues to be some of the most popular content, according to Facebook, with 80% of Gear users watching videos.

Facebook is testing a massive change to your news feed

In a move that could be the biggest thing to happen to the Facebook news feed since it was introduced, it appears the social network is quietly testing a massive revamp that will add a lot more news to the feed.

As seen in screenshots that surfaced on Twitter on Friday morning, Facebook is experimenting with a new layout on mobile that highlights multiple news sections, with topics such as World & U.S., Sports and Food. However, the primary (and presumably default) section is still the classic news feed we're accustomed to seeing.

Facebook confirmed to Mashable that it's testing the new, sectioned news feed, in addition to the current format, though it's unclear if the feature will ever get an official launch.

While the feature being tested isn't entirely new — we've seen some versions of topic-focused feeds in the past on iOS — the format revealed in the latest Android-based screenshots haven't quite been seen before.

"People have told us they’d like options to see more stories on Facebook around specific topics they’re interested in," a Facebook spokesperson said via email. "So we have been testing a few feeds for people to view more and different stories from people and Pages based on topic areas."

IMAGE: MASHABLE/TOM CRITCHLOW

The sections appear at the bottom of the screen, accessible by tapping or swiping left or right. After tapping one of the sections, such as World & U.S. News, the news feed updates to news articles that are related to the topic.

In theory, this news reader-style approach takes users to all of the news they care about, housed in one massive hub. It would also certainly encourage users to get more news from Facebook rather than other sources like Twitter or Google News.

“There’s a lot more content now with multiple feeds, instead of one,” Tom Critchlow, a marketing consultant who posted images of the revamped feed to Twitter, told Mashable. “As for the news and sports feeds, they have posts from my friends too and it feels very much more like a news aggregator rather than a personal space.”

There's also a tool to edit which feeds you'd like to see — meaning if you weren't into Sports, you can remove it from the categories and include things like Music or Animals & Pets instead. Out of the gate, however, all topics are turned on by default, Critchlow said.

Critchlow, who saw the feature on his Moto X, says the article news feed also includes a prompt to add people he doesn’t know as Facebook friends.

“This feels like a huge departure from the traditional Facebook model,” he said. “There's no ‘two friends in common’ label or anything like that. Perhaps there's some intelligence behind the scenes but nothing immediately obvious.”

“I can't help but see a lot of Twitter ties here, such as turning the default feeds into places you go to get news with third-party content, while Facebook Groups, Instagram and Messenger places would be where you share personal content,” Critchlow said.

Lance Ulanoff contributed to this report.

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