Tiktok Tops The Download Charts On Christmas Day, A Metaverse Shift Is On The Way

The short-form video app TikTok topped the download charts on Christmas Day, while VR and the larger metaverse transition saw some crucial consumer signs in the latest data from app tracking company App Annie.

To begin with, in terms of overall downloads, TikTok led the way on Christmas, ahead of Instagram and Facebook, as shown in the figure below.

Snapchat, along with the top messaging applications, remained popular, but Shopee, a major Southeast Asian eCommerce platform, grew in popularity. CapCut, a TikTok editing software, also cracked the top 10, highlighting the app's popularity. With predictions that TikTok will reach 1.5 billion users by 2022, it's evident that it's now the app of choice, particularly for young people, which is a significant move for all social media marketers.

If you don't already have a TikTok plan in place, whether it's just for listening in on the current trends or for larger advertising and marketing, now is the time to start. However, the changes shown in the region-specific download charts, particularly in the United States, are maybe even more intriguing:

Oculus was the most popular download on Christmas Day in the United States when Americans got new Oculus Virtual Reality (VR) headsets under the tree. This is in keeping with the growing popularity of metaverses and immersive experiences.

Because the broader metaverse change, as envisioned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, would most likely take place in virtual reality, Meta must see higher adoption of its VR headsets to usher in the next stage of digital connectedness. If Meta can effectively command the VR space, it can effectively own the metaverse itself, and become the primary hosting platform with which other developers will need to align to connect with people in this rapidly developing new universe of possibilities.

We're not there yet, and the actual nature of the metaverse has yet to be determined. The wider adoption of Meta's VR technologies, on the other hand, is strong evidence of increased interest. With just one amazing, functioning, viral trend-sparking VR app, the VR momentum will soar, leaving the current metaverse debate about NFTs and other early-adopter trends in the dust.

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The popularity of the MMO game Roblox, which, like Minecraft, has proven an enduring platform for young players, is another crucial thing to note in the US list. However, one noteworthy tendency to observe in the case of Roblox is that it's become a vital social connection for young people who have been deprived of face-to-face interaction owing to the pandemic for the past two years. In addition to being a gaming and recreational platform, this might make it an even more integrated and important social tool, laying the groundwork for the future metaverse structure.

On Roblox, in-game spending on character skins and digital products is also high (Roblox was the top game for consumer spend on Christmas Day globally), and for the next generation of consumers, this is already a normal, habitual behavior, pointing to where the trend will be headed in the next decade or so, as these youngsters move into adulthood. Roblox is the best indicator of what the metaverse will be in terms of a fundamental structure, with a wide range of user-generated and creator-contributed parts built into the larger in-game world, which players then occupy for hours and hours each day.

The pandemic has given it a lift, and it's now an important platform to keep an eye on. And, while I expect the broader metaverse to be far more advanced, the platforms and providers that will succeed are those that seek to build tools that connect into the larger metaverse structure, rather than those that offer one-off profile pictures or 2D digital art with no direct connection to the space.

People should be looking at apps like 'Ready Player Me,' which focuses on creating multi-platform enabled avatars and hosting platforms like Meta's VR space in this regard. If next-generation developers don't have a strategy or roadmap that includes supporting the protocols of larger hosts and networks, they don't have a metaverse strategy at all. Even then, it's too early to say what the universal schemas and standards for being fully "metaverse-ready" will be. In other words, don't turn to photographs of bored apes and pixelated figures to comprehend the next stage of digital connection; instead, look to platforms like Roblox, where youthful users are already shaping the new rules of the future space.