Friends are capped at 50 by the app’s Singapore-based creators Metadream, in an effort to keep the community tight, relevant and connected.
Is it already ‘game over’ in the metaverse for Bondee, Singapore’s avatar-based app?
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After garnering two million downloads within two weeks of its launch, Bondee’s Gen Z users have got past the novelty factor. Bondee’s is a story of social media hype punctured by a sharp truth that the loyalty of digital natives is hard-earned, experts say
The rise of Singapore-based metaverse newcomer Bondee was impressive: two million downloads within two weeks of its launch on Apple’s App Store.
But that initial hype was short-lived as Singapore’s social media users quickly dropped the home-grown avatar-based app, retreating from yet another attempt by makers of the metaverse to capture the long-term loyalty of Gen Z in Southeast Asia.
Yet Bondee’s moment in the sun may reveal the challenges that the region’s metaverse developers face, experts say, with none so far hooking a crowd large enough to trouble social media giants, such as Meta which has ploughed billions of dollars into the digital future.
Bondee’s early adopters in Singapore were initially pulled in by the “cute” avatars, personalised rooms and picnic spaces, reminiscent of games like Habbo Hotel that many millennials dabbled in as teens.
With shades of the Nintendo game Animal Crossing, which took the online world by storm during Covid lockdowns in 2020, Bondee allows users to personalise avatars and bedrooms that friends can visit.
“we don’t have our own homes in real life”
Aqil Lim, 25, said he enjoyed being able to visit his friends’ virtual homes, even more as “we don’t have our own homes in real life” in the expensive Asian city state.
As word of mouth of what was dubbed the “new Gen Z app” spread quickly across Asia, many shared the QR code of their Bondee account on Instagram and Twitter, prompting friends to add them.
But the novelty quickly wore off as Bondee felt “primitive, with limited customisations and chat functions”, Lim said, adding that after a few weeks he hardly uses the app.
By Wednesday, Bondee had fallen to 19th on Singapore’s Apple Store – just a month after it topped charts across Asia.
This also comes after reports of social media users using the term #ripbondee while recording themselves uninstalling the app.
Bondee’s is a story of social media hype punctured by a sharp truth that the loyalty of digital natives is hard-earned, experts say, since most of their allegiances are already captured by larger platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
“Avatars alone can’t draw people in, it’s what the entire platform allows you to do with your avatar that gives the platform its stickiness,” said Lim Sun Sun, a professor of communication and technology at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
The cutesy aesthetics and whimsical feel of Bondee was a “nice hook” but if there isn’t anything else after that, then it is quite literally, “game over”, she said, adding that this will be a challenge for metaverse developers to meet.
Singaporean Joey Tan, 23, saw videos on TikTok about Bondee and became “curious about what the hype was about”.
But given the newness of the app, not many of her other friends were on it, an apparent failure to reach a “critical mass” which quickly sees new tech fizzle.
Questions & Answers
Q.What led to Bondee's initial popularity among Gen Z users?
What led to Bondee's initial popularity among Gen Z users?
A.
Bondee initially attracted users with its "cute" avatars, personalised rooms, and picnic spaces, reminiscent of older games like Habbo Hotel and Animal Crossing. The app's tight community of 50 friends also appealed to early adopters.
Q.What do experts suggest metaverse developers need to do to succeed?
What do experts suggest metaverse developers need to do to succeed?
A.
Experts suggest that avatars alone are not enough to draw people in. Metaverse developers need to offer more functionality and activities beyond just cutesy aesthetics, as a lack of deeper engagement leads to users losing interest quickly.
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