I don& #39;t know if people know this, but the power users of social VR right now are kids and people who suffer from a mental/physical illness that stops them from socializing normally in their day-to-day life https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📈" title="Chart with upwards trend" aria-label="Emoji: Chart with upwards trend">

#socialVR is what gives them control over their social life https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👬" title="Men holding hands" aria-label="Emoji: Men holding hands"> /thread

By power users I mean the people that spend the most amount of hours in-app, which are the users that are theoretically gaining the most from a product https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⭐️" title="Medium star" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star">

Exceptions may apply, but it still doesn& #39;t change the overwhelming majority.

This tells us something REALLY important: people use social VR to fill GAPS missing from their real-life interactions, not to REPLACE them.https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤔" title="Thinking face" aria-label="Emoji: Thinking face">

The more similar social VR interactions are to the real-world the less use they have to the general population. It fills less gaps! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👍" title="Thumbs up sign" aria-label="Emoji: Thumbs up sign">

And it makes sense! Social VR fills very important gaps for those 2 groups. Kids have a social life heavily constrained by their families & educational institutions, while people who suffer from certain illnesses may be stuck at home or too anxious to engage normally with others.

What this means is that the idea that the everyday men and women will simply stop hanging out in real life and just do it in VR instead is delusional https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤪" title="Crazy face" aria-label="Emoji: Crazy face">

There are so many hidden nuances about in-person interactions that people won& #39;t give up, even if they cannot verbalize them.

So the question becomes when are people willing to give those things up?

1) When it& #39;s overwhelmingly economically advantageous to meet in VR https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💸" title="Money with wings" aria-label="Emoji: Money with wings">(ie: you don& #39;t have to fly somewhere)

2) When the social gathering is more about acquiring information than connecting at a human level

So if you& #39;re a designing a #socialXR product, ask yourself: are you filling a gap in people& #39;s social lives or are you just giving them another way to do what they do today?

And if that& #39;s so, are the economic benefits enough to justify them giving up the nuances of meeting IRL?