It was not long ago that people primarily communicated via text but communications and entertainment is shifting to visuals; photos and video. The next big step af video is virtual reality, says founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.

”Virtual Reality is the next step”
These words are probably to be expected from a man who spent $2 billion dollars to acquire Oculus last year, but there is nonetheless growing enthusiasm for virtual reality in the industry.

Virtual reality is currently only possible by strapping on big inelegant glasses with displays inside. Small sensors reach to head movement, making it possible to look around in the virtual world. At times it feels so real that your body reacts instinctively.


Mr. Zuckerberg believes that VR will initially be big for video and gaming, and later morph into a platform for social interactions. The team behind Oculus, which is now owned by Facebook, has repeatedly said that they believe that VR can be the most social technology yet because interactions feels so real.

- ”The reason we’re excited in this space is the continued progression of people getting richer and richer ways to share what’s on their mind. Ten years ago it was text. Now it’s mostly visual and photos, then primarily video and we’re seeing huge growth there, but that is not the end of the line. Immersive 3D content is the obvious next thing after video.” Zuckerberg said.

The comments were made during Facebook’s earnings call. The company recently said that 4 billion videos are watched daily on Facebook.

Time will tell whether the Facebook founder will be right. Oculus will launch its first consumer product, Rift, next year. Several competitors are also planning to launch their first VR products in 2016.