Risk, returns & timeframes illustration
1 min read
October 31, 2022
by
Regan Pearson

Smells like teen spirit 🔞

It’s been a minute since teenage Zuckerberg created Facebook in his dorm room. But that hasn’t stopped the middle-aged billionaire dad from trying to entice teens into his metaverse with VR. But according to research, Instagram and Facebook are smelling a lot less like teen spirit.
Risk, returns & timeframes illustration
1 min read
October 31, 2022
by
Regan Pearson

Smells like teen spirit 🔞

It’s been a minute since teenage Zuckerberg created Facebook in his dorm room. But that hasn’t stopped the middle-aged billionaire dad from trying to entice teens into his metaverse with VR. But according to research, Instagram and Facebook are smelling a lot less like teen spirit.
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Teens have long been the trend setters of tomorrow. But if you don’t speak TikTok you might have a hard time figuring out what’s cool and what’s cringe. Crocs and 80s serial killer glasses? Dope. Phone calls? Don’t bother. 📵

Tapping into what’s cool is something the team at Meta (META) would love to figure out, too. It’s been almost two decades since 80’s baby Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook as a teen, and the company’s been burning billions while they try to entice users of all ages to embrace their new metaverse Horizon Worlds. So far Horizon Worlds has reportedly drawn less than 200,000 monthly active users. Compare that to the Roblox (RBLX) metaverse, which for September reported 57.8 million users… per day. Clearly Roblox knows a thing or two about ‘cool’ because their metaverse has Crocs (CROX). 🐊

According to investment bank Piper Sandler (PIPR), if Meta was hoping teens would fall in love with virtual reality, they might have a problem. Piper Sandler’s latest ‘Taking stock with teens’ survey suggests only 14% of teens use VR devices weekly, and that was down from 17% six months ago. 😬

Meanwhile, Instagram might be a hit with millennials and boomers (they have over 2 billion users after all), but teens are increasingly storming off and slamming the door in their face. 🚪 Only 20% of teens say the Meta-owned platform is their go-to for getting social, down 2% over six months ago. Instead it’s TikTok that 38% of teens rank as their go-to social platform, followed by 30% of teens snapping on Snapchat (SNAP). 🤳 Aww, snap!

Regan Pearson
Finance writer
Linkedin

We’re not financial advisors and Hatch news is for your information only. However dazzling our writing, none of it is a recommendation to invest in any of the companies or funds mentioned. If you want support before making any investment decisions, consider seeking financial advice from a licensed provider. We’ve done our best to ensure all information is current when we pushed ‘publish’ on this article. And of course, with investing, your money isn’t guaranteed to grow and there’s always a risk you might lose money.

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