As Mara said, you are missing library calls and also a + symbol after scale_x_log10().
This code produces an animation:
library(tidyverse)
library(gganimate)
library(gapminder)
data_thing <- gapminder %>%
filter(continent == c("Americas", "Africa", "Asia"))
ggplot(data_thing, aes(x = gdpPercap, y = lifeExp, size = pop, color = country)) +
geom_point() +
theme(legend.position = "none") +
scale_x_log10() +
facet_wrap(~continent) +
labs(title = "Year: {frame_time}") +
transition_time(year) +
shadow_wake(wake_length = 0.1, alpha = FALSE)

If you get an error message instead, then very likely you don't have a renderer program installed in your system