Helped by the rise of virtual reality (VR) headsets and affordable 360 degree cameras, selfie lovers can forget it and adopt the “surroundie” which can soon become the newest trend in picture taking.

A selfie taken with a 360 degree camera is nowadays being referred to as a “surroundie” – a term coined by CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood. The time is now for this form of content to take off believes Wood, the chief of research at CCS.

“I think that history has shown, for example with the explosive growth on YouTube, that obviously there is a role for curated content, but user-generated content has been a massive driver on consumption,” Wood told CNBC.

“The reality is that 99 percent of user-generated content is not great, but the 1 percent that rises to the top can drive incredible amounts of traffic, with the advent of more affordable 360 cameras, combined with both YouTube and Facebook supporting 360 degree content, the ‘surroundie’ can become the new selfie in particular the way millenials want to share experiences,” he said.

Over the past year, 360 cameras and headsets have been brought out the a number of companies. While HTC, LG, Oculus and Xiaomi are just a handful of companies playing the virtual space, Samsung for example has the Gear 360 camera and Gear VR headset.

VR devices featured heavily with electronics firms betting big on the technology last week during the IFA technology conference in Berlin. Insta360, developed by Chinese firm Shenzhen Arashi Vision Co is one of the cameras that can be clipped on to an iPhone. At IFA, the Alcatel Vision and the Alcatel 360 Camera were unveiled by Alcatel. And using its new Snapdragon VR820 platform, a reference desing for a VR headset was launched by Qualcomm.

Despite this, what will drive adoption of the medium would most likely be professional content from brands and movie studios, experts believe.

“With the soon-to-be mass availability of VR, the initial content will be premium entertainment, from high-profile games to films in order to drive ownership and demand,” Andy Hood, head of emerging technologies at AKQA, a London-based digital agency, said.

“Once there are enough headsets in the hands of the public however, VR will become a channel through which companies can deliver products and services that use the new medium, which is where I see user-generated content really impacting the industry,” Hood said.

The support for 360 degree content on Facebook and YouTube would likely be a key factor in the rise of the surroundie. A big distribution channel for 360 content to take off, would be provided by YouTube which sees hundreds of millions of hours of video watched every day while Facebook, with 1.65 billion monthly active users, could also serve as a distribution medium. To view the 360 content, users don’t even need a headset. They can scroll through it on a desktop or smartphone.

“Facebook and YouTube have firmly put their weight behind it. This is the first time we have had a new content format where there is such wide distribution from the beginning. Something like Blu-Ray you had to buy a player and replace disks,” Wood said.

“With 360, all you need is a camera and you can immediately share it. We have never had situation where there is instant distribution to billions of people,” he added.

(Adapted from CNBC)

Categories: Creativity, Uncategorized