My TechCrunch colleague Danny Crichton interviewed me about how my recent assessment of the coming Multiverse era of social media has been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis and impending recession. Read it here on TechCrunch >>
Category: Social Media
The Multiverse (Part 7): The companies that will shape the upcoming Multiverse era of social media
In the seventh and final part of my series on Multiverse virtual worlds as the next phase of mainstream social media, I outline the competitive landscape of companies poised to win big in the new era. Read it here on TechCrunch >>
The Multiverse (Part 5): Multiverse virtual worlds will be healthier for society than our current social networks
In the fifth installment of my big series on Multiverse virtual worlds as the next phase of mainstream social media, I outline why this evolution is an improvement for society over the current paradigm of social platforms. Read it here on TechCrunch >>
The Multiverse (Part 4): If socializing within games is so popular, why hasn’t the Multiverse arrived yet?
In the fourth installment of my big series on a Multiverse of virtual worlds as the next phrase of mainstream social media, I answer the question “Why now?”. Read it here on TechCrunch >>
The Multiverse (Part 3): what virtual worlds in the coming multiverse era will look like
I’ve posted the third installment of my series on “the multiverse” of virtual worlds from games as the next phase of mainstream social media. In this article I describe aspects of what multiverse virtual worlds will look like. Read it here on TechCrunch >>
The Multiverse (Part 2): why social networks want even more gaming
The Multiverse (Part 1): Games are already social networks
The Multiverse (Intro): why gaming’s virtual worlds are the next stage of social media
Read about my thesis on the next stage of social media, one in which young people will spend as much time socializing within virtual worlds that evolve from games as in social apps like Instagram. This is the introduction to a 7-part series breaking down the thesis step by step.
Stats on Facebook app deletion
I’ve finished an 8-article series on virtual worlds and virtual economies that should start publishing next week. One of the most interesting stats I discovered in the process was a Pew Research Center survey in 2018 finding that among 18-35 year old Facebook users in the US, 47% reported taking a multiple week break from Facebook and 43% reported deleting the Facebook app from their phone for a period of time.
Half of the core social media user demographic have been trying to reduce Facebook’s presence in their lives. It’s a shockingly high stat. Facebook’s US MAUs aren’t collapsing anywhere near that much though, meaning most of these people are still using it.
To me these numbers echo what I’ve anecdotally been seeing in my interactions with others: a cultural shift to viewing our use of popular social apps as junk food for mental health. We’re addicted and take temporary detoxes but haven’t been able to fully disconnect given how central these platforms are in society. It seems to beckon for new types of online social experiences.
It remains to be seen how much Facebook’s shift to make Facebook Groups the center of socializing on Facebook addresses this user frustration.