New research reveals concerns on Metaverse and NFTs

Some 61.6 million conversations have been sparked around NFTs and 15.2 million on the metaverse globally over the past 12 months, according to new research from Ebuyer.

Top searches included Are NFTs bad for the environment? and Why the metaverse will fail? Gen Z was revealed as the most interested in NFTs and the Metaverse with 42% and 45% of conversations started by 18-24 year olds respectively.
 
It's been hard to escape the acronym NFT over the past year. Non-fungible tokens have become a part of mainstream culture with celebrities from Paris Hilton to Lionel Messi even joining the conversation; but what sentiment does the public really have towards NFTs and the Metaverse?

Using data¹ from Google Search Trends, Linkfluence, and Answer the Public, Ebuyer has revealed that over 1.7 million negative posts were generated on NFTs and 337,000 negative posts on the Metaverse were generated over the past year.

So, does the public really trust these new virtual innovations? And what exactly are peoples concerns on the topic?

The USA has the largest interest in NFTs and the Metaverse with over 8.5 million and 2 million posts respectively over the past year.

As the home of Silicon Valley, it's no surprise that the US has the most to say on the topic with over 8.5 million conversations on NFTs and 2 million on the Metaverse started over the past year.

Although 22% of conversations sparked a positive sentiment, 5% of Americans were still wary of non-fungible tokens. The biggest currency providers searched were Ethereum with over 265,000 conversations generated and Blockchain generating over 161,000 conversations.

Indonesia and India came in second and third with 2.1 million and 1 million conversations generated respectively. India had 82% of their conversations on NFTs generated by Gen Z males.

Americans have a similar perception of the Metaverse, with 13% of conversations sparked having a positive sentiment and 6% with a negative sentiment. Cryptocurrency within the Metaverse is a big talking point with over 19,300 posts on this topic.

When currency is not tangible, understandably, some of the public may feel it is also untrustworthy. In fact, over 1.7 million people worldwide are still showing a negative perception towards NFTs and 337,000 negative posts on the Metaverse. But as paying with Face ID has become a part of our everyday life will our attitudes change towards cryptocurrency and virtual reality?

Looking into Answer the Public to discover the most searched queries, it is clear that the public is slightly cynical about the safety of NFTs. The most asked questions included Are NFTs bad for the environment? and Are NFTs bad? highlighting that virtual cryptocurrency is a big anxiety for some. In fact, over the past year, Google Search Trends showed that the Are NFTs bad for the environment? query increased by over 5000%.

When it comes to the Metaverse over 3.8 million conversations were positive with the biggest questions asked being Which Metaverse coin to invest in?. With Metaverse Real Estate having a 5000% increase in search volume, could the Metaverse be the new normal?

However, there were still 337,000 negative conversations generated on the Metaverse with cynics asking, Will the Metaverse fail?

As the generation that has grown up in the Web 2.0 era, its no surprise that Gen Z is the group talking about NFTs the most; 42% of the conversations came from 1824 year-olds. The Metaverse was also a big talking topic for Gen Z with 45% of conversations sparked by this age group in the past year.

Male Gen Z talks about NFTs the most with a whopping 29% of conversations sparked, with a mainly positive sentiment of 32%. This is no surprise considering a life without the internet is unimaginable to Gen Z.

Surprisingly baby boomers took a share of over 12% for both NFTs and the Metaverse, showing interest from one of the older generations on these newer forms of technology.