Ranking of popular apps among people in their 20s! Metaverse, food loss, & ChatGPT-related apps (Feb. - Apr. 2023)

The second and third apps that exhibited the high surges in the number of users in February were compass apps. In Japan, every year for the traditional Japanese festival of Setsubun on February 3, it is a tradition to eat ehomaki (thick sushi rolls) while facing the direction that will bring good fortune. It is likely that many users downloaded the app in order to know the direction of "eho," or direction of good fortune.

In fact, looking at the number of users, it appears that these apps rode the surge due to seasonality as the number of users jumped only in the month of February in both 2022 and 2023 and are not only popular among the younger generation.

Next on the list was an app for metaverse social media that allows users to create their own avatars and communicate with friends.

The graph below shows the percentage of users using this app for metaverse social media by age group. The age group of users is clearly dominated by those in their 20s, and it is safe to say that it is gaining attention among Gen Z.

Let's take a closer look at what makes this metaverse social media app so popular, especially among those in their 20s.

The greatest feature of this app is that the number of people you can register as friends is limited to 50. This naturally limits the number of friends to those that one has actual close ties with in real life.

In recent years, there has been much talk in Japan about "social media fatigue among young people" caused by constant comparing and competitiveness on the platforms, with the idea that more buzz a social media account gets, the better it is, and the anxiety surrounding the fact that information can spread in an instant. Under these circumstances, it is believed that the nature of this app, which is designed to deliberately limit the number of people with whom information can be shared and to allow for communication similar to face-to-face exchanges, has been well-accepted by the current Gen Z.

Following the announcement by “Zenly,” one of the leading location-sharing apps, that it will end its service on February 3, 2023, a new location-sharing app released by "Zenly" users has ranked in the list. Like "Zenly," it allows users to check location information and battery level with registered partners.

The graph below shows the number of users of the four location-sharing apps, including the “Zenly” app, that attracted attention when "Zenly" was discontinued. You can see that as the number of "Zenly" users declined while the use of other location-sharing apps increased. However, the number of users for any one particular app is not overwhelmingly large.

"Zenly" was a popular app with an estimated 30 million monthly active users. There are a certain number of people who want to find a replacement for "Zenly" but don't know which one to choose because there are so many similar apps out there.

The 12th-ranked app is an app that improves the quality of sleep. It measures sleep cycles based on recorded data such as snoring during sleep and allows you to visualize and analyze your sleep quality. It also has other functions to support sleep, such as an alarm function that can be customized by selecting from a wide variety of sounds and sounds to induce sleep.

Looking at the age ratio for this app as well, it appears that it is used not only by people in their 20s but also by many people in their 40s and 50s. With as many users in their 20s as middle-aged and older users, who tend to be more health-conscious, it may be that people in their 20s are more interested in "improving sleep quality" than other generations.

It is said that young people in Japan today tend to emphasize "Taipa" (short for "time-performance"), which is similar to "Cospa," short for "cost-performance" in Japanese. In order to achieve satisfaction in as little time as possible, they are consuming various content at the same time and watching videos at double the speed, and short-form videos are becoming popular.

Let's look at some of the apps that seem to be growing in the number of users as a result of the growing importance of "Taipa."

▼For more information on "Taipa," please see this article.

First on the list is a face diagnosis app that analyzes your face against the “golden ratio” of the face and determines your personal color based on a photo of the face. As shown in the graph below, more than half of the users are in their 20s, and three out of four users are women, indicating that the app is favored by women in their 20s.

The graph below shows the number of "FaceScore" users. Amidst the popularity in diagnoses such as "skeletal structure diagnosis" and "face type," the number of "FaceScore" users thought to have increased in March, as the number of users want to "look sharp for a ‘new life’" (as new graduates start their professional career and students start a new school year in March every year).

Another feature of this app is that it not only diagnoses your type but also tells you which colors, hairstyles, makeup, and fashion styles suit you.

Riding on the trends surrounding diagnoses, such as personal color analysis and skeletal diagnosis, the point of being able to find a style that suits you in a "Taipa" way may be why it is winning the hearts of many women.

If the desire to feel confident about one's appearance without wearing a mask was accompanied by the relaxation of Japan's mask-wearing requirement that started March 13, 2023, the demand for diagnostic apps is expected to increase.

An essential part of preparing for a new stage in life is finding a place to live. An app that aggregates information on rental properties from websites of famous real estate companies ranked ahead of the major real estate information apps. As of January 2023, it has aggregated rental property information from 14 listing partners.

Preference for a single app that allows you to browse all rental properties at once rather than spending time searching for rental properties using multiple apps, may also be a sign that people are aware of "Taipa." This type of aggregated service may continue to be supported by people who value "Taipa," especially among Generation Z.

Next on the list was "7sGood," an app that uses short-form videos to promote products.

Perhaps because of its affinity with Instagram's characteristic of "promoting products visually," the app's account is gaining popularity with 71,000 followers (as of April 26, 2023).

The age group ratio shows that there is a large segment of users in their 30s and older, especially those in their 50s and 60s. Since the app handles many children's toys and daily necessities, it is likely that many of the users are interested in purchasing these products.
This suggests that the use of short-form videos to lead users to purchase products is becoming a method that can be used to approach not only Generation Z but also a wide range of age groups.

Physics engine puzzle games ranked high. About 70% of the age groups activating the app from March to April 2023 are in their 20s, so it can be seen that the trend is centered on people in their 20s.

Its popularity may have something to do with the popularity of Let's Play (videos documenting playthroughs of a video game), especially in the VTuber community, that started around March 2023. If you search for YouTube videos of this game being played, many of them are posted by VTubers.

It can also be said that the game's success may be due to the fact that they continue to proactively support the content creators by providing images and other materials that can be used for their videos on the official website, and whenever VTubers post a tweet announcing when they will be streaming/posting, they will retweet it on its official "Q" Twitter account whenever possible.

Thus, the popularity of the game can be attributed to the popularity of content creators on YouTube, especially VTubers, mostly those in their 20s. On May 2, 2023, the Steam version that can be played on the PC was released, so it is likely that the game will continue to be popular in the future.

A foodsharing service ranked next on the list. Users purchase items that are about to become leftover, unsold items on the app and then visit the physical store to pick them up, an unusual approach among food loss reduction apps.

Since they have to pick up the items themselves at the physical stores, half of the users' residential areas are concentrated in areas around affiliated stores. However, since items are sold at a lower price than usual, they may be especially appreciated by college students and people in their 20s who are in the early stages of their career who probably have low disposable incomes.

The ranking below also shows the top three apps of interest among "TABETE" app users in their 20s. "COOKPAD MART" (No. 1), a food e-commerce service, ranked first, but with the "Yasai (Vegetable) Rescue" food loss reduction initiative that started this fiscal year also gaining popularity, you can see that "TABETE" users in their 20s are interested in the reduction of food loss.

In 18th place is an app that corrects math problems using ChatGPT. Equipped with the latest AI and the now-popular ChatGPT, it recognizes the content and automatically generates answers when you take a photo of a math problem. It can also recognize handwritten text.

While it is likely that some math problems will be asked in classes in college, it is also likely that they are used in part-time jobs popular among college students, such as teaching in cram school, tutoring, and correcting work.

The last one we will introduce is a music adjustment app. This app is very suitable for practicing music, as it allows you to isolate vocals or specific instrumental tones from existing music, change the pitch and tempo of a song, and add a metronome.

It uses the latest AI to identify instruments, voices, and keys, so it can be used for all kinds of music, including your own compositions. It seems to be a reliable app for all those who are trying to work on music seriously.

These are the trending apps for February, March, and April 2023. The fact that many of the apps ranked in the list were those that can improve "Taipa" or incorporate the latest technology suggests that Generation Z is focusing on "Taipa" and the latest technologies.

Therefore, in order to attract the attention of Generation Z, it may be important to develop efficient and useful apps using the latest technology. Alternatively, it can be said that it is effective to offer good "Taipa" as a means of appeal and have an influential figure act as a advocate or spokesperson and promote the business' product or service.

▼Data from Dockpit was used in this case study. Dockpit is an online behavior analytics tool provided by VALUES, Inc., and it allows you to access online behavioral data (updated monthly) via your browser so you can research competitor websites and investigate trends. There is a FREE version of Dockpit, so if you are interested in using it, please register below.