• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, September 15, 2015

Before Facebook sells a single Oculus Rift headset, how could the social giant turn people onto the wonders of virtual reality -- and significantly increase mobile engagement in the process?

By launching a stand-alone video app that can support 360-degree “spherical” videos, of course!

Strangely enough, Facebook is working on just such a product. As sources tellThe Wall Street Journal, the fate and launch date of the service remains unclear -- but in theory, it sounds like a killer idea. Users of the would-be app could “experience” -- a fancy way of saying check out -- virtual reality worlds simply by tilting and turning their existing mobile devices.

It’s a practice that mobile gamers should be very familiar with, but a mass-market application has massive implications. From potential homes to Hollywood Studio tours, the possibilities for exploration are endless.

And, while it’s unclear whether the app will debut before Oculus Rift -- which is slated to begin retailing early next year -- the promotional opportunity is equally massive. Convinced that virtual reality is the future, Mark Zuckerberg and company are already coming up with a way to get people excited about its potential.

Earlier this year, Facebook said it was testing spherical videos, which create a fully immersive 360-degree video experience for users, similar to 3D games, as part of the News Feed. The immersive videos are produced with two dozen cameras arranged in spherical form, Mark Zuckerberg told attendees of Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference in March.

On a personal computer, users will be able to experience spherical views with their mouse button, and the greatest potential for the new service is clearly connected to Oculus Rift.

Somewhere in the middle, however, would be an experience modified for the world’s billions of mobile phone users.

By 2020, virtual reality will represent a $30 billion market, while augmented reality will be a $120 billion market, according to a recent forecast from Digi-Capital.

With that much on the line, we can’t imagine Facebook not flooding every channel with virtual-reality goodness.