• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Facebook Brings Livestreaming to Virtual Reality on Oculus Rift

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 12, 2017, 2:01 PM ET

Facebook is bringing livestreaming to virtual reality.

The social media giant said Wednesday that people can now share live video with each other using the Facebook Spaces virtual reality app. Facebook Spaces debuted in April and is the company’s first VR app built for the company’s Oculus Rift VR headset.

With the Spaces app, people can interact with other Oculus Rift users inside a virtual playground where they can chat, draw 3D animations, and frolic with digital avatars that resemble cartoonish versions of their real selves.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Now, Spaces users will be able to broadcast their virtual reality sessions to outside users who don’t have the Oculus Rift. Spaces users will be able to see a live stream of comments from their friends watching them outside of the app from the core Facebook social networking service.

The new feature is another attempt by Facebook (FB) to popularize virtual reality. If people have the ability to watch virtual reality live streams from Oculus Rift users, they may be more inclined to purchase the headset and play with others in VR if the live streams are compelling enough.

Earlier this week, Facebook dropped the price of its Oculus Rift headset to $400 as part of a temporary summer sale intended to boost sales. Although Facebook doesn’t release sales statistics of the Rift, several analyst firms estimate that competing VR headsets sold by Sony and HTC appear to be outselling the Rift.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
'I just don't have a good feeling about this': Top economist Claudia Sahm says the economy quietly shifted and everyone's now looking at the wrong alarm
By Eleanor PringleJanuary 31, 2026
10 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Right before Trump named Warsh to lead the Fed, Powell seemed to respond to some of his biggest complaints about the central bank
By Jason MaJanuary 30, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
The American taxpayer spent nearly half a billion dollars deploying federal troops to U.S. cities in 2025, CBO finds
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 28, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Top engineers at Anthropic, OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code—with big implications for the future of software development jobs
By Beatrice NolanJanuary 29, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Big Tech
Microsoft’s $440 billion wipeout, and investors angry about OpenAI’s debt, explained
By Eva RoytburgJanuary 29, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Asia
Trump’s Greenland play comes with Russia and China running circles around the US in the Arctic as expert sees ‘big game of catch-up’
By Tristan BoveJanuary 30, 2026
1 day ago

Latest in Tech

AIData Security
Moltbook, a social network where AI agents hang together, may be ‘the most interesting place on the internet right now’
By Jason MaJanuary 31, 2026
31 minutes ago
Photo of Alexis Ohanian
SuccessFounders
Alexis Ohanian walked out of the LSAT 20 minutes in, went to a Waffle House, and decided he was ‘gonna invent a career.’ He founded Reddit
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
3 hours ago
Netflix
Big TechMarkets
Netflix may be turning into an ‘entertainment giant,’ but its stock looks like ‘dead money’ to investors
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 31, 2026
5 hours ago
In this handout, the mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019.
PoliticsJeffrey Epstein
Elon Musk and Jeffrey Epstein emailed each other for years trying to meet up, new Justice Department records show
By Eva Roytburg and Sasha RogelbergJanuary 30, 2026
18 hours ago
Big TechThe Boring Company
After a decade of silence, Elon Musk’s tunneling startup and its reclusive president, are hitting the media circuit
By Jessica MathewsJanuary 30, 2026
20 hours ago
MagazineEducation
The 1966 cover of Fortune Magazine welcomed the Information age. Now the AI era beckons
By Indrani SenJanuary 30, 2026
21 hours ago