There was a time when the metaverse seemed like the next big thing, and Facebook deciding to rebrand its umbrella corporation as Meta was a major contributing factor for that. Of course, Facebook’s reasoning to pivot to a more metaverse focused business strategy may have been an attempt to distract from the many controversies that were bringing it down. Furthermore, Mark Zuckerberg was potentially trying to diversify his company’s offerings outside of just social media with all things having been considered and taken into account.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, it turns out that the metaverse is actually going through an extended slump at least as far as searches are concerned. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a staggering 71% decline in searches related to the metaverse have been since in just the span of a single year.
The metaverse reached the height of its popularity in several points but in the past 12 months the most recent one was on search engines in September of 2022. This was when it reached a lofty score of 90 on the popularity index known as Google Trends, and it coincided with Meta’s surprising announcement that it would be rebranding from that point onwards.
Now that September of 2023 has rolled around, it has become apparent that the metaverse may have been little more than some kind of a passing fad. The popularity index for this particular term has plummeted to just 26, and there are a lot of factors that are being posited for this occurrence.
For starters, the metaverse may be suffering from oversaturation. The vagueness of the idea coupled with Meta’s incessant attempts to position it as the future of the internet in general was not conducive to getting people excited about the concept. Quite on the contrary, it caused a fair bit of confusion. Over hyping the tech has made users cautious about the existence of the metaverse, and the lack of concrete benefits for using it have also undoubtedly played a role in what is going on. This decrease in searches does not bode well for the future of the metaverse.
Read next: 57% of Gen Z Want to Become Influencers, Far More Than Any Other Group
In spite of the fact that this is the case, it turns out that the metaverse is actually going through an extended slump at least as far as searches are concerned. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a staggering 71% decline in searches related to the metaverse have been since in just the span of a single year.
The metaverse reached the height of its popularity in several points but in the past 12 months the most recent one was on search engines in September of 2022. This was when it reached a lofty score of 90 on the popularity index known as Google Trends, and it coincided with Meta’s surprising announcement that it would be rebranding from that point onwards.
Now that September of 2023 has rolled around, it has become apparent that the metaverse may have been little more than some kind of a passing fad. The popularity index for this particular term has plummeted to just 26, and there are a lot of factors that are being posited for this occurrence.
For starters, the metaverse may be suffering from oversaturation. The vagueness of the idea coupled with Meta’s incessant attempts to position it as the future of the internet in general was not conducive to getting people excited about the concept. Quite on the contrary, it caused a fair bit of confusion. Over hyping the tech has made users cautious about the existence of the metaverse, and the lack of concrete benefits for using it have also undoubtedly played a role in what is going on. This decrease in searches does not bode well for the future of the metaverse.
Read next: 57% of Gen Z Want to Become Influencers, Far More Than Any Other Group
