A 360-degree photo lets people look around your space by dragging or tilting their phone. It suits venues, shops and showrooms where the layout matters, and a phone's panorama mode is enough to start.

Photos you can look around

Since June, Facebook has shown 360-degree photos: images people explore by dragging with a mouse, or by moving their phone as if looking around the room.

A small icon marks them in the News Feed. A tap and a turn of the phone, and the viewer is standing in your space.

For most businesses this is a novelty. For a venue, a shop or a showroom, it answers a question ordinary photos never quite settle: what is it like to be there.

What one photo can show

The best subjects are places where the layout itself is the information.

The second is the strongest case. People booking a room for a party or a meeting want its shape, where the windows are and where things could go, and one photo shows all of it.

What a flat photo cannot do

An ordinary photo shows one direction, chosen by the photographer, usually the best corner of the room.

Visitors know that. A 360-degree photo shows everything, which is exactly why it reads as honest.

It answers small practical questions too: where the entrance is, whether there are steps, how far the counter is from the door.

And it gives a fair impression of size. A room that looks spacious from one corner can turn out to be narrow, and people would rather know before they book.

Taking one without special equipment

The simplest route is the panorama mode in a phone's own camera: stand in one spot, hold the phone upright and turn slowly while it captures.

Facebook recognises a panorama when it is uploaded and lets people explore it. It covers a wide band around you rather than the full sphere, which suits most rooms.

For the floor and ceiling as well, some camera apps build a full sphere from a series of shots, and small 360-degree cameras do it in one press.

Practise once in an empty room before the real attempt.

Getting a clean result

Turn the phone around itself, not around your body. Pivoting on your feet moves the lens and leaves visible seams where the shots join.

Choose the middle of the space, at about chest height, so nothing sits too close to the lens.

Avoid moving people and vehicles. Anything that moves during the turn can appear twice or be cut in half.

Shoot in steady light with the lights on, and avoid facing straight into a bright window if you can.

There is no behind the camera

An ordinary photo hides the mop bucket, the stacked chairs and the boxes by the back door. A 360-degree photo shows them all.

Tidy the whole space, not just the part you would normally photograph. If the photo takes in the ceiling, look up as well: stains and dead bulbs are easy to miss.

Check for people too. Customers and staff in the shot should know and agree, and anything on screens or noticeboards should be fit for the public to see.

A worked example

An alpaca farm with a small farm shop sells yarn, socks and blankets, and takes visitors by appointment on weekends.

Families booking a visit kept asking the same things: how close they could get to the animals, whether the paths suited a stroller, and where the shop was in relation to the paddock.

The owners took a panorama on a phone from the centre of the main paddock one morning, with the herd at the feeder and the shop door in view.

The first attempt caught a farm hand twice, once at each end, and the manure pile by the gate.

The second, taken after a tidy and with everyone out of frame, went up on the page.

A panorama of the shop's wall of yarn followed, and the paddock photo was pinned to the top of the page for the season.

Posting it on the page

Upload it like any other photo, from the phone or a computer. Facebook does the rest.

Write a caption that tells people what they are looking at and where to start, such as the shop door on your left.

Pin it above the other posts if it answers a common question, and keep ordinary photos alongside it, since close-ups still show detail better.

Album names and captions help later too. A photo called the main hall from the stage is more useful than one called panorama.

The reach problem

Since Facebook's News Feed change at the end of June, page posts reach fewer people without paying, and a 360-degree photo is no exception.

A modest paid boost to people nearby is one way to get it seen while it is new.

Its lasting value is as a reference: something people find on the page when deciding whether to visit, and something you can link to when answering a question.

The website should carry the same information, with photos and directions, so people who never open Facebook are not left out.

The counter-case

Many businesses gain little from one. A plumber, an accountant or a mobile service has no space customers need to see, and ordinary photos of the work say more.

A small or cluttered room can look worse in 360 degrees than in a well-chosen photo, and a novelty post will not rescue a page that is rarely updated.

A venue that depends on its space, such as a wedding hall, may want a professionally shot set rather than a phone panorama.

Where the layout of the space is part of the decision, though, one good 360-degree photo is worth taking.

This weekend

  1. Pick the space customers most want to see.
  2. Tidy every side of it.
  3. Clear people out of the frame.
  4. Stand in the middle and turn slowly.
  5. Check the seams before uploading.
  6. Caption it with where to look first.
  7. Pin it if it answers a common question.

Step two is the one people skip, because nobody is used to photographing the side of the room they normally stand on.

Why page posts reach fewer people this summer is covered in Facebook shows fewer page posts again.

Frequently asked questions

What is a 360-degree photo on Facebook?

A photo people explore by dragging with a mouse or moving their phone, as if looking around the room. Facebook has shown them since June.

Do I need a special camera?

No. A panorama from a phone's own camera works, since Facebook recognises it on upload. Apps and small 360-degree cameras add the floor and ceiling.

Which businesses benefit most from them?

Venues, shops, showrooms and farms, anywhere the layout of the space helps people decide. Businesses that work at the customer's location gain much less.

How do I avoid a messy result?

Turn the phone around itself rather than around your body, stand in the middle, keep people and vehicles out of frame, and shoot in steady light.

What should be tidied first?

Everything, including the side of the room you normally stand on. A 360-degree photo shows what an ordinary one would leave behind the camera.

Will many people see it?

Page posts reach fewer people without paying since the June change, so treat it as a reference people find when deciding, and carry the same information on your website.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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