Augmented reality is the future of computing, says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made his predictions about the direction in which social media is headed over the next few years, and they include much more augmented reality. Speaking at a Q&A in a public town hall in Bogota, Columbia, Zuckerberg cited his three predictions for social networking trends as:

1. Many, many more people online

2. More photo and SMS messaging than via the old web interface

3. The future of computing in general is augmented reality

He said: ‘In another 10 to 15 years, you can imagine that there will be another platform, which is even more natural and even more built into our lives than mobile phones. I think it’s pretty easy to imagine that in the future we will have something that we can either wear - and it’ll look like normal glasses (so it won’t look weird like some of the stuff that exists today). And you’ll just be able to have context with what’s going on around you in the world and communicate with people and not have to disrupt your conversations by looking down.’

Zuckerberg also mentioned that virtual reality company Oculus – which Facebook bought for $2 billion in 2014 - could also play a crucial role in the future of augmented reality.

Commenting on Zuckerberg’s trend forecasting, Blippar CEO and co-founder Ambarish Mitra said: ‘Predictions are often overestimated in the short-term and underestimated in the long run. Augmented reality will, in the long run, have a bigger impact on our lives than Internet and web-based browsing did.

'Due to an overload of information our lives have become more complicated, hence unlimited computing power and simple solutions have become necessary. Image-recognition and augmented reality will significantly simplify how people access everyday information from the world they see. It'll truly make seeking information more pervasive, predictive and personalised than ever before.’

Watch Zuckerberg’s full Q&A video via Facebook here, and read more about the entrepreneur’s predictions for the future of social media via Venture Beat.