Facebooks next big deal -Augmented Reality

Facebook announced on their annual Facebook Developer Conference last week, that they opened a beta platform for Augmented Reality — What does this mean for marketers?

Source of picture: Facebook Developer News Blog

Is Facebook’s Augmented Reality feature just Snapchat all over again?

For quite some time people have been able to take ordinary pictures on Facebook and share them in messenger or on their Profile or News Feed. The vision of the new AR feature for pictures taken with the Facebook Camera Effect Platform is, among another things, to enhance the use of photo and video with Augmented Reality in the form of masks, 3D figures and recognition of faces as well as objects. Sound a lot like Snapchat? That has of course been one of the most common comments. One of the big difference, however, is that Facebook has made an open platform, where developers can submit ideas on what kind of mask, 3D animations and effects should be released within the AR feature. Facebook will then choose what to release of AR features from the submitted ideas.

According to Facebooks Developer News Blog, the platform for submissions is a matter of people being able to self-express without Facebook being the limit of what’s being created: “The Camera Effects Platform turns smartphone cameras into the first AR platform, providing an opportunity for artists and developers to create effects for the Facebook camera.”

What does the new AR feature mean for brands on Facebook?

If the Camera Effects Platform gets air under its wings, it will seen from a marketing and commercial perspective, create some interesting possibilities for brands.

AR is a headline for your picture without words

With AR you’re able to enhance the importance of an atmosphere, object or desire in the situation you’re picturing. Using the statement a picture says more than a thousand words, you might say that a picture with an AR filter creates the headline of your picture without words. There’s nothing new in creating extra layers on top of a picture, but the AR feature will make it easier for personnel within Marketing who doesn’t have advanced skills of e.g. Photoshop to do so, in the sense of 3D features, mask and whatever creative ideas developers submit and Facebook choose to release.

Enforce your brand narrative with AR

Another potential possibility with the AR feature is for companies to create some kick-ass 3D effects, layers, and masks that their audience finds fun or prestigious enough to use to augment their pictures. If the feature reached its full potential, we’ll probably see brands with strong narratives such as Coca-Cola and Old Spice create AR features that let people sit backwards on a horse on a beach and at Christmastime, we might see Coca-Cola signature coloured Christmas ornaments and the iconic Coca-Cola Santa Clause as a featured layer on the Camera Effect Platform.

Check out the frame feature to get a sense of the platform

The Beta Platform opened for submission only two weeks ago, so brands will have to wait and see how the platform is received and how companies will be allowed to interact with the AR feature.

As a Marketer at this point, you can experiment with the frame feature on the Camera Effect Platform on Facebook to get a sense of the platform. You might also want to try to test how your audience reacts to posted pictures with frame layers if this can be reasonable integrated into your marketing strategy.

The difference between VR and AR?

Augmented reality simply means you put some non-existing visual on top of what’s there — Just like we know it from Snapchat. Where Virtual Reality is a fully graphical and virtual world, AR is when you put a second made up layer on top of the actual physical reality. When you put on a set of Oculus Rift and see an Amusement park where you can walk around as an avatar and try roller-coasters, it’s a virtual world and a virtual reality, whereas catching a Pokémon on your college’s deckchair in the office is a use of augmented reality.

Still not quite sure what to make of Facebooks AR? Then check out Buzzfeed Tech’s video on the subject.