" NFT " was the most frequently used tech buzzword of 2021, as companies across all sectors sought to enter the NFT market , though in reality, they were only doing so to avoid falling behind technologically in the eyes of investors . " Metaverse " was another, especially after Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect its shift towards focusing on metaverse-related technologies. Initially, everything was very positive, but over time, at least the users—the very people to whom the benefits of metaverses and NFTs need to be sold— have begun to lose interest.
Despite an initial surge in the use of these buzzwords, Google Trends indicates that interest in them is plummeting. This may be because news coverage of them has dwindled significantly. In video games, almost everything related to NFTs has declined after Ubisoft Quartz failed to generate much buzz outside of dedicated circles, and they now only survive in blockchain games. Forbes speculates that with "Metaverse," the term has been overused to the point of losing its meaning and is now associated with blockchain-based shared worlds that typically have fewer than 300 concurrent players.
Normal people don't search as much about NFTs or metaverses anymore.
According to Google Trends analytics, interest in the term "metaverse" peaked when Facebook changed its name to Meta. Shortly thereafter, it lost relevance, mainly because Facebook and its competitors failed to present a coherent vision of the concept . Video games have adopted the term, such as Fortnite and Roblox, which already functioned as social networks by allowing friends to meet in a virtual space—very similar to what Meta aims to achieve with metaverses.
NFTs reached their peak popularity in late January. Since then, they've been in a steady decline that shows no signs of slowing down. But not everything related to crypto assets has fallen out of favor.
Terms like " crypto ," " blockchain ," " Ethereum, " and " Bitcoin " saw a significant surge in searches last spring. They are now relatively stable. There may have been slight declines in some, but not to the same extent as " Metaverse " and " NFTs ." It's quite possible, however, that the drop in searches can be explained simply by the fact that, being such new terms, many people hearing them for the first time looked up their meanings, thus explaining both the initial surge and subsequent decline.
Source: Forbes
