{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Trends on Tuesday: Adoption for Pokémon Go Mobile App Surges |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Trends on Tuesday: Adoption for Pokémon Go Mobile App Surges",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/12/trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Trends on Tuesday: Adoption for Pokémon Go Mobile App Surges","summary" : "Augmented Reality games have existed for years, but have mostly failed to catch a mainstream audience; Pokémon Go just changed all that this weekend. The game that launched early this month has exploded in popularity and is close to surpassing Twitter in daily active","date" : "2016-07-12T10:00:37-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"wsullivan" : "Will Sullivan"},"topics" : {
        
            "analytics" : "Analytics",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "emerging-tech" : "Emerging tech",
            "mobile" : "Mobile",
            "security" : "Security",
            "social-media" : "Social media"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2016-07-12-trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/07/2016-07-12-trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/07/2016-07-12-trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/07/2016-07-12-trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges.md","slug" : "trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/12/trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eAugmented Reality games have existed for years, but have mostly failed to catch a mainstream audience; \u003ca href=\"http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-go/\"\u003ePokémon Go just changed all that this weekend\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/07/600-x-325-Pokemon-Go-screen-caps-from-Google-Play.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Pokémon Go screen caps from Google Play.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe game that launched early this month has exploded in popularity and is close to surpassing Twitter in daily active users, according to \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2016/07/10/pokemon-go-about-to-surpass-twitter-in-daily-active-users/\"\u003eForbes’ Jason Evangelho\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The data gets even more staggering. As of 48 hours ago, Pokémon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States, and is installed on more Android phones than Tinder (insert “Pokémon is now more popular than sex” joke here),” he cited. “Not only that, but on average users are spending \u003cem\u003etwice\u003c/em\u003e the amount of time engaged with Pokémon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mobile game available on Android and IOS allows you to capture collectable Pokémon characters using your mobile phone and the physical city around you. Players go to different locations on the map and collect characters, much like the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Card_Game\"\u003ePokémon trading cards of the ‘90s.\u003c/a\u003e It’s taking the concept of \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching\"\u003egeocaching\u003c/a\u003e in the mobile age and putting that kid-friendly game face on it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the game isn’t really anything new; Pokémon Go’s app development company, Niantic, is the creator of the sci-fi-based mobile AR game called \u003ca href=\"https://www.ingress.com/\"\u003eIngress\u003c/a\u003e, which has very similar game play and goals as Pokémon Go, and while it has an active audience among some of the sci-fi crowd, it never achieved the runaway success that the new Pokémon app has. With Nintendo’s more kid- and family-friendly Pokémon characters, Niantic created a huge mobile hit and \u003ca href=\"http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/11/12147600/nintendos-stock-pokemon-go\"\u003eadded $7.5 billion to Nintendo’s market value\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnecdotal stories of \u003ca href=\"http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/07/08/was-it-a-ghost-pokemon/\"\u003eplayers accidentally finding dead bodies\u003c/a\u003e to \u003ca href=\"http://imgur.com/KAwwxFp\"\u003e3 a.m. random rendezvous with strangers and police\u003c/a\u003e are flooding social media, along with cautionary tales of \u003ca href=\"http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/07/10/four-suspects-arrested-string-pokemon-go-related-armed-robberies/86922474/\"\u003ebad actors using the platform to rob people\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"http://motherboard.vice.com/read/pokmon-go-hack\"\u003ehackers creating malicious versions to create backdoors into people’s phones\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://fortune.com/2016/07/11/pokemon-go-security/\"\u003ea security risk due to app permissions for iOS users signing in with Google accounts\u003c/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/4ruvln/pokemon_go_theres_a_gym_in_the_center_of_the/\"\u003etrespassing stories around collecting the characters\u003c/a\u003e in hard to get to places.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile this kind of mobile-app driven augmented reality experience would be a challenge to build and maintain for government agencies, it’s a fascinating look into how it’s spreading and how communities are forming and interacting around it. It raises a lot of interesting questions around security and privacy, but also is an interesting way to see people bonding across cultures, ages and backgrounds over a mystical child’s game. It’s also an interesting case to consider the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/05/12/using-pirate-metrics-to-analyze-your-mobile-applications-audience/\"\u003e‘Pirate Metrics’ around acquisition, growth and retention\u003c/a\u003e as the app grows out of its first week of blockbuster success.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}
