Social networking giant Facebook, Inc. will now support 360-degree photographs, the company announced Thursday.

The new feature will allow users to upload panorama shots as well as proper 360 degree photographs, which will then be viewable by friends on their timeline complete with the ability to browse the entire image; this is different to the previous ability to upload a panorama shot and it appearing simply as a long, single picture; instead of just offering wide landscape traditional picture, a 360-degree photo lets users look in any direction.

360 photos will be identified in the news feed by a compass icon on the right-hand side of the photo, and to explore users simply need to tap the image and drag it, or by moving their phone.

“Now your friends can experience the moments you share in 360 as if they were actually there with you, from hiking through a national park, to wandering through a museum, to celebrating a wedding,” the official Facebook announcement post read.

In addition to news feed support, Facebook 360 photos will also be available to view in virtual reality for users of the Samsung Gear VR, which is powered by the Facebook-owned Oculus; to access 360 photos in the Gear VR, users should click VR at the top left hand corner of the video, place their Samsung phone in the Gear VR itself, then view to their hearts delight.

How to use Facebook 360 photos

To capture a panorama picture, users should take a panorama picture on their iOS or Samsung Galaxy device, or by using a 360 photo app or camera; once taken, the picture is shared like any other picture, with Facebook automatically detecting that the picture fits the format.

Despite reports to the contrary, the feature isn’t currently available worldwide, with Facebook saying simply that it would be rolled out “over the next few days;” in the meantime though if you haven’t gotten support for it yet expect to see a lot of long stretch photographs in your timeline that don’t make a lot of sense.

If you do have support and want to see what the fuss is about, newly uploaded Facebook 360 photographs include Paul McCartney taking fans on stage at a concert in Córdoba, Argentina, The New York Times bringing people behind the scenes at the Supreme Court, and National Geographic transporting viewers to an ancient necropolis in Kazakhstan.

Image credit: Facebook.