From the archive. First published in May 2016. Rewritten for clarity, with a note on what happened afterwards.
In 2016 Facebook opened 360 degree photo uploads to everyone, following 360 video the year before. At the time it looked like the beginning of immersive content on the platform, and it arrived alongside heavy investment in virtual reality.
What happened
Very little. 360 photos never became a meaningful format for pages. They required specific equipment or technique, most people viewed them on a small screen where the effect is marginal, and they never received the distribution advantage that would have made the effort worthwhile.
The wider virtual reality bet continued for years at enormous expense, with the metaverse strategy absorbing tens of billions of dollars. Meanwhile the thing that actually transformed Facebook distribution was short vertical video copied from a competitor.
The lesson for anyone chasing new formats
New formats are worth adopting when the platform is actively promoting them, because early adopters get distribution the format will never give again. They are not worth building a business on.
The test is simple: is the platform giving this format extra reach right now? Reels passed that test for years. Stories passed it. 360 photos never did, and the people who invested in 360 equipment for their pages got nothing back.
How to apply this today
- Watch what the platform is explicitly boosting, not what it is talking about at conferences.
- Adopt it while the advantage lasts, and keep your core content independent of it.
- When valuing a page, discount anything that depends on a format currently being promoted. That advantage is rented.
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