Metaverse switch: Young people jump ship from Facebook and embrace virtual reality platform
The metaverse could become a mainstream way to make friends and even date, with nearly a fifth of young people ready to ditch more conventional social media platforms.
With more than a tenth having already made their own metaverse avatar, data from Zen Internet highlighted that 18 per cent of 16-24 year olds are already using the virtual platform, and a quarter will spend at least an hour on it by 2026.
This comes after Facebook, now run through Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Meta’ company, lost half-a-million digital daily users according to its latest report, with teens declining 13 per cent since 2019 – projected to drop by 45 per cent in the next two years.
Almost half of 16-24 year-olds recently polled are considering using the virtual reality 3D platform to make friends in the future, with nearly 30 per cent saying it will improve their confidence.
It’s not just about making new friends though, with more than 35 per cent of Brits surveyed preparing to date through the site, and almost two-fifths interested in metaverse speed dating.
The research “highlights how important virtual interactions will be to the younger generation’s identity”, Jawad Ashraf, chief executive of digital collectables platform Terra Virtua, said.
“It may be too early to predict exactly what the metaverse will become, but we do know it will open up completely new shopping, work, entertainment and social experiences.”