Twitter Reportedly Ramping Up Virtual Reality Efforts

Twitter is getting ready to add native 360-degree video integration and 360-degree video live streaming, according to Variety.

The social networking company recently hired Gregory Gopman, the founder of AngelHack and alum of UploadVR, to be its VR program manager. Gopman previously organized corporate hackathons for companies like Comcast, Hasbro and Hearst, holding at least 100 hackathons per year.

Back in June, the NBA and Twitter teamed up to deliver 360-degree video content before and after each finals game between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, which was sponsored by Samsung. The deal was the first time Twitter has played around the idea of 360-video content. The partnership didn’t lead to any integration of 360-degree videos on Twitter. Users had to go to Samsung’s website in order to watch the videos.

Twitter also announced in June it had hired former Apple designer Alessandro Sabatelli to head its efforts in virtual and augmented reality. The company is looking to hire an AR and VR team that will develop “the next generation of live product experiences.”

Update:

Recently announced Twitter’s new head of VR, Gregory Gopman was fired after TechCrunch posted an article detailing some of his past controversial rants against the homeless living in San Francisco.

In a Facebook post this morning, Gopman wrote, “ Anddd I'm fired. Thanks TechCrunch," and later added "They wrote a smash piece on me last night and comms didn't want to deal with it."