While 80% of people say they love video calling apps, only 21% want to socialise in virtual spaces, according to a survey of 11,000 consumers in 11 countries carried out by first party data company Dynata.
In the UK segment of 1000 respondents; surveyed between 4th to the 10th of February 2022, found that 81% of UK shoppers said everyday life has changed completely, a lot or, somewhat because of the pandemic.
Looking at how everyday life has changed since the pandemic began, 75% of UK consumers have said they use video calling – typically Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp, WeChat – to connect with friends and/or family. That resulted in 80% of those who use video calls, feeling just as, or even more connected with friends and/or family.
However, when it comes to metaverse, only 21% said they are interested in socialising with friends in a virtual space and 20% were interested in collaborating with work colleagues in a virtual office.
UK consumers say they are shopping online more often (60%) now than pre-pandemic. However, when asked about taking this further, with the next step being whether they were interested in visiting a virtual mall (shopping centre) in the metaverse, only 56% said they are not at all or slightly interested.
Those who have shown at least slightly interested in any form of the virtual reality; said shopping (19%), working (15%) and socialising (14%) in the metaverse could be the way to transform the way we live our lives.
Cultural experiences seem to be the area (25%) that the most consumers in the UK believe could transform the way that they live their lives. This is most notable with Baby Boomers, of which 39% said they would possibly experience virtual reality/metaverse cultural experiences.
