This edition of Leger’s Tech and Innovation series explores Canadians’ attitudes toward technology and their opinions on the metaverse.
Leger’s Tech and Innovation series, launched in 2022, explores Canadians’ perceptions of technologies and innovations that are shaping our future. Led by Leger’s Alberta office, with a special focus on Alberta, the series is designed to help governments and businesses understand public opinion, an important factor when designing new policies or preparing new product and service offerings. A new survey (accompanied by a free report) is released monthly.
FILL IN THE FORM BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE REPORT
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE? CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US.
OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES
Renewable Energy and Going Green
Tech Industry Talent, Attraction and Retention
The upcoming topics include fintech (December) and education (January). Stay tuned!
In October 2021, Facebook announced its rebrand to Meta and that it would focus on its upcoming metaverse. Interest in the metaverse increased sharply after this announcement, although search volume has waned during 2022 according to Google Trends.
While the term “metaverse” is still somewhat unclear and lacks a concrete idea of what it is or will be, generally speaking, it is virtual and augmented reality spaces in which users can interact with their environment and other users. According to Wired, some companies also “envision some sort of new digital economy, where users can create, buy, and sell goods”.
With this in mind, we surveyed Albertans (and Canadians more broadly) to understand their attitudes toward technology and popular technology companies and their awareness, usage of and opinions on the metaverse.
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: ATTITUDES TOWARD TECHNOLOGY AND THE METAVERSE
CANADIANS SEEM TO HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY
While 78% believe too many parts of life are becoming online rather than in person, a similar proportion (70%) believe that technological advancements are making our lives better.
HALF OF CANADIANS ARE AWARE OF THE METAVERSE, BUT ONLY 5% HAVE USED IT
Canadians aged 18-34 (65%) are most likely to have heard of the metaverse. Despite higher levels of awareness, usage is not significantly higher among this age group.
Men (75%) are significantly more likely than women (25%) to consider joining the metaverse.
CANADIANS AWARE OF THE METAVERSE ARE NOT OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ITS SUCCESS, ESPECIALLY YOUNGER CANADIANS
Only one-quarter of Canadians aware of the metaverse would consider joining (26%), and only one-third (34%) believe the metaverse will be successful and widely used. This may suggest a lack of relevance.
Those aged 18-34 are most likely to believe the metaverse will fail as it has no purpose or solves any problems (52%).
ENCOURAGING TRIAL AND ENSURING POSITIVE FIRST EXPERIENCES WILL BE KEY TO THE METAVERSE’S SUCCESS
As only 5% of Canadians have used the metaverse, the skepticism is largely coming from those who have not experienced it. There is still an opportunity to encourage trial to improve perceptions and captivate users with positive first experiences.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
- A total of 1,535 Canadians were surveyed from September 29 to October 3, 2022. The respondents were randomly selected from Leger’s LEO panel.
- To ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada, the raw data was weighted according to the actual distribution of the population based on gender, age and region using data from Statistics Canada’s latest available census.
- As a comparison, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error of ±2.5% with a confidence interval of 95% (19 times out of 20).