Five online trends from 2023: where are they now?
March 15, 2023When this article was first published in March 2023, five online trends were drawing the most attention: the metaverse, cognitive technology such as ChatGPT, NFTs, the Internet of Things and blockchain. Some have since become part of everyday life, while others have faded. Here is what each trend promised and where it stands as of October 2026.
The metaverse: this concept aims to make the online world more like the real one, where we interact with others in a 3D virtual world represented by an avatar. With a virtual reality (VR) headset, people would meet, shop and play games together.
Where it stands: the mass-market metaverse has not arrived. Meta's Reality Labs division, which builds its VR and augmented reality products, ran up nearly $80 billion in operating losses between late 2020 and the end of 2025, and in January 2026 Meta laid off more than 1,000 Reality Labs employees as it shifted resources to AI and smart glasses. Immersive technology has not disappeared, though: Apple launched its Vision Pro headset in February 2024. See also: how the rise of generative AI could kill the metaverse, or save it.
Cognitive technology: this includes natural language processing (NLP), generative AI and speech recognition, which learn to perform simple and complex tasks. In early 2023, chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generators such as DALL-E were just starting to make waves.
Where it stands: this is the trend that took off. ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, and generative AI assistants are now built into search engines, office software, phones and business applications. For companies, the question is now where AI adds real value and how to keep its output accurate. Read more about AI in app development: benefits, risks and solutions.
Digital certificates (NFTs): non-fungible tokens act as digital certificates that prove ownership of a digital item, such as artwork, a 360-degree video or an object in a virtual world, and let owners trade it. In 2022 several large platforms experimented with them; Instagram and Facebook, for example, let creators share NFTs as “digital collectibles”.
Where it stands: the boom did not last. Meta wound down NFT support on Facebook and Instagram in March 2023, less than a year after introducing it, and NFT trading volumes have fallen far below their 2021–2022 peak. NFTs are no longer an emerging mainstream trend.
Internet of Things (IoT): this idea connects everyday devices to the internet so they can work together, linking the physical and digital worlds. In marketing, IoT data shows how customers use a product, which helps optimise campaigns and the user experience.
Where it stands: IoT is now a normal part of homes, factories and cities rather than an emerging idea. A long-standing problem, devices from different brands not working together, is being tackled by Matter, an open smart home standard released in October 2022 by the Connectivity Standards Alliance with backing from Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung SmartThings. For developers, the focus has shifted to security and to apps that manage many devices reliably. More on how mobile apps impact the Internet of Things.
Blockchain: this is a type of digital record or ledger that is stored across a network of computers. Once written, the record of activity is very hard to change, which makes it difficult to tamper with or hack.
Where it stands: blockchain is moving from experiment to regulated infrastructure. The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) became fully applicable on 30 December 2024, and the US GENIUS Act, signed into law on 18 July 2025, set federal rules for payment stablecoins. Clearer rules give banks and businesses a framework for blockchain-based payments.
The past few years show that hype is a poor guide: of these five trends, AI and IoT delivered, blockchain is maturing under regulation, and the metaverse and NFTs fell well short of expectations. For businesses, the safest approach is to adopt new technology where it solves a real problem for customers.
