The drawback of growing up as a ‘nineties kid’ is that you’re often on the backburner for all the new trends popping up. Fortunately, while we may be late to the party, we still show up.

Singapore-based social media platform, Bondee, exploded in popularity over the last month, topping app store charts across SEA and North Asian countries. The app allows you to customise your own avatar and room, with plenty of options available. Of course, opportunists couldn’t pass on this chance to create some very interesting gags.

Bondee appears to be a mishmash of Animal Crossing and Habbo Hotel, where personalisation is the only thing that sets you apart from everyone else. It doesn’t hurt that the app is completely free either, which gives people a much stronger incentive to try it out.

At the moment, there aren't a whole lot of things to do in Bondee. You can visit your friend’s rooms and leave notes, sail around an empty ocean looking for new friends or items, or chat with your friends in what seems to be a large, empty lobby. 

What’s particularly interesting to us is that Bondee was created by Metadream, which acquired True.ly in 2022. The implications of this is that Bondee, while currently a traditional social media app, was likely developed with the intention of (eventually) becoming a metaverse. 

If this is true, we could expect to see great changes in Bondee as the app starts introducing monetisation. Brands have already begun to move, with beer company 1664 Blanc giving away four-packs of 1664 Blanc to the first 50 people who add it as a friend on Bondee. Product advertisements could also help to trigger brand recall when you place them in your rooms, and reimburse users for featuring them. Imagine going into your friend’s room and seeing a can of coke on the table, or a Herman Miller chair. 

This presents interesting possibilities: room sizes might expand to make space for additional furniture, which gives you more room for product placement. There might even be an option to include in-game currency to unlock additional features, and sell your own custom made items from your room - similar to existing metaverse economies.

Bondee is still fairly new, which leaves plenty of room for new developments. We’re excited to see what will happen to the app in the near future; will it become the next social media giant, or fade into obscurity? Only time will tell.