Facebook and Snapchat both announce augmented reality is the future… on the same day

Facebook has long been a platform where you can craft your own perfect personal story, curating photos and thoughts and sharing things which slowly showcase the version of yourself that you wish to present to the world. (Plus there was something about Kony 2012 a few years back that popped up a lot on feeds, too.) Soon you will be able to really start crafting your own reality on Facebook, as Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday that augmented reality is the next big move for the company.

Zuckerberg gave a half-hour presentation at the company’s annual developers conference F8, during which he spoke of a new camera-based AR platform which, as he explained, will be used for tasks ranging from the practical: leaving notes on the fridge, to the immersive, such as gaming.

“We’re going to make the camera the first mainstream augmented reality platform,” Zuckerberg said (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Obviously this opens up a whole world for the music space, with more immersive experiences (hopefully better terminology will come along with the technology) a possibility in video clips, concert films/streams, and expanded album experiences with a malleable video component. It’ll get out of hand for a few years while labels and creators fumble through it, sure, but — as The Hollywood Reporter points out — AR is a gateway to the larger virtual reality space, and Zuckerberg just happened to drop a cool $3 billion to buy VR headset company Oculus. It’s all part of a larger plan. First you use the phone, then you wear the silly headgear.

“It’s going to take a while for this to develop,” Zuckerberg said. “Over time, I think this is going to be a really important technology that changes how we use our phones and eventually all of technology.”

The same morning (yesterday) Snapchat added their own AR technology, World Lenses, a filter which allows users to add 3D images to video and photos – an expansion of that dog-face thing you always do, but with more advanced technology. CNet have a video which showcases the feature. Both companies seem keen to keep pushing users further and further into this augmented space, the obvious advantage over VR being that most people carry the technology in their pockets already, and you don’t have to wear a stupid thing on your face.

The future is now – and you can add all the rainbows you like.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.