Philippine Google Search Trends “Metaverse” and “NFTs” Resurge Amidst Global Decline
Search interests for terms “NFTs” and “Metaverse” in the Philippines are slowly resurging based on the data from Google Trends.
Search interests for terms “NFTs” and “Metaverse” in the Philippines are slowly resurging based on the data from Google Trends, a chart that reflects the search interest of any word or topic relative to their highest trend at a certain time or period.
Metaverse and NFTs
Based on the data from the previous 12 months, interest for “metaverse” peaked last October (2021) upon the announcement of Facebook’s foray into building a metaverse and its name change to “Meta”. Metaverse refers to a shared, virtual space where users interact with one another; it merges the online and physical world through technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality.
NFTs or “non-fungible tokens,”—unique, digital items on the blockchain—have increased interest since January of this year. While the chart shows a decline after January, the partial data for March reveals a resurgence in search interest for those terms.
There is a difference between a person searching for “NFT” and “NFTs.” While the former appears to be an inquiry on its definition, the latter indicates a curious mind intending to discover either NFTs they have taken interest in, NFTs that were popular at that time, or fresh coverage around NFT news. Simply put, Google search “NFTs” signals a possible enthusiast exploring and navigating the NFT space.
Metaverse: Interest over time:
Metaverse: Interest by Subregion:
Metaverse is a term closely associated with NFTs and blockchain games, where concepts like item ownership (transferable assets from one game to the next) thrive. Thus, Manila, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon are unsurprisingly the regions where interest for “metaverse” is strongest due to the passionate NFT gaming communities in those regions. Notably, Cabanatuan in Central Luzon is often cited as the epicenter of Axie Infinity, an NFT game that became wildly popular in the Philippines last year.
NFTs: Interest over time:
Last November, NFT was declared as “word of the year” by Collins Dictionary. “It’s unusual for an abbreviation to experience such a meteoric rise in usage, but the data we have from the Collins Corpus reflects the remarkable ascendancy of the NFT in 2021,” said Alex Beecroft, Collins Learning managing director.
BitPinas has also observed an increasing number of local and regional publications reporting about NFTs and specific NFT projects in the last few weeks, hence a possible reason for resurgence.
The regions with the most interest in NFTs are similar to the chart for metaverse above, suggesting a high correlation between the audience for both topics.
NFTs and Metaverse Global Google Trends Search Interest:
Interest for both terms have declined globally. Still, according to Google trends, there was a resurgence around January of this year but unlike the data for the Philippines, there is no observed resurgence for the two trends.
NFTs in the Philippines
In the Philippines, interest in NFTs and the metaverse is observed from big firm corporations to grassroots movements alike. PayMaya, one of the two leading mobile wallets in the Philippines, said it plans to set big targets for NFT this 2022. UnionBank, after publicly declaring to create virtual offices in the metaverse and supporting the local play-to-earn community, recently announced a collaboration with Canvas.PH to help artists and collectors explore the NFT space.
Find more coverage of NFTs on BitPinas.
This article is published on BitPinas: Philippine Google Search Trends “Metaverse” and “NFTs” Resurge Amidst Global Decline
Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.
