Virtual Zuck Fails To Connect (bbc.com)

Rory Cellan-Jones, writing for BBC: It must have seemed like a good idea. As a taster for a big announcement about Oculus VR on Wednesday, send Mark Zuckerberg on a little virtual reality trip, including a stop in Puerto Rico. But the reviews are in -- and they are not good. The sight of Mr Zuckerberg using VR to survey the devastation of an island still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria may have been meant to convey Facebook's empathy with the victims. The fact that he was there in the form of a cartoon seemed to many the perfect visual metaphor for the gulf in understanding between Silicon Valley and the real world. Sure, he was talking about all the activities which his company had initiated to help the island, from helping people tell their families they were ok using Safety Check to sending Facebook employees to help restore connectivity. But cartoon Zuck showing us a 360 degree view of a flooded street before zipping back to a virtual California just seemed a little, well, crass. Is Facebook really concerned about the plight of Puerto Rico, or is it merely a handy backdrop to promote Oculus, whose sales have so far proved disappointing?

Comments

I think it has promise

[networkBoy]

The real cool part was lost because the message delivery felt like a PR stunt using devastation in PR.

What this really is good for:
Using Oculus like this is a way that professional relief planners and project managers can determine optimum load-out of emergency supplies before leaving the warehouse location, when it's much easier to add/remove/change the loadout on short notice.

There's nothing quite like *seeing* the environment. back-pack street-view cameras on dirt bikes comes to mind...