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Facebook Horizon will let you create your own world in VR

The social network will launch a test version of the social VR world in 2020.

Queenie Wong Former Senior Writer
Queenie Wong was a senior writer for CNET News, focusing on social media companies including Facebook's parent company Meta, Twitter and TikTok. Before joining CNET, she worked for The Mercury News in San Jose and the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon. A native of Southern California, she took her first journalism class in middle school.
Expertise I've been writing about social media since 2015 but have previously covered politics, crime and education. I also have a degree in studio art. Credentials
  • 2022 Eddie award for consumer analysis
Queenie Wong
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Facebook is creating a new social VR experience called Horizon.

Angela Lang/CNET

The future of virtual reality for Facebook is more social.

On Wednesday, the world's largest social network said that it's launching a test version of an app called Horizon that will let people create their own environment in virtual reality. You'll also be able to play games, explore and hang out with friends in this social VR world. 

"Because everyone is going to be able to create their own spaces and experiences within it, Horizon is going to have this property where it just grows and expands and gets better and better over time," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Oculus Connect, its sixth annual virtual reality conference, which kicked off at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center on Wednesday.

Watch this: Zuckerberg announces Facebook Horizon VR social media platform

Facebook owns Oculus, a virtual reality company that has released a series of headsets that allows you to enter a computer-generated world. Facebook Horizon will be available for Oculus Quest and Rift users.

This isn't the first social VR app that Facebook has released. In 2017, the company unveiled a virtual reality app called Facebook Spaces that lets you hang out with friends and family and even take selfies in a virtual park or other environments. 

Facebook's Oculus said in a blog post it's closing down Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms on Oct. 25.

Oculus Quest is fully mobile VR

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