iPhoners Love Facebook & Weather

I'm not surprised to see Facebook the most popular app, but I found it interesting that iPhoners are SO interested in weather...http://htxt.it/QMsy

Primates on Social Networks

Interesting ECONOMIST article on Facebook behavior...Cameron Marlow, the "in-house sociologist" at Facebook, found that the average number of "friends" in a Facebook network is 120, consistent with Dr Dunbar's hypothesis, and that women tend to have somewhat more friends than men.

Quote of the Day

Great article about simplicity in product design (thanks Stu!)

"...The whole point of human-centered design is to tame complexity, to turn what would appear to be a complicated tool into one that fits the task, that is understandable, usable, enjoyable..."
   - Don Norman

Teen Music Behavior

Interesting new research results released by NPD on Teen music behavior...although I think it’s pretty hard to get teens to honestly admit they steal music in a survey….We all know CD purchasing is declining (down 27% for 13-17 year olds), but surprisingly, digital downloads are also down 13%.  “Another unexpected move was the 6 percent falloff in the number of tracks downloaded from peer-to-peer music sites and the 28 percent decline in the number of CDs borrowed from friends to rip or burn.”

 

So what’s the deal?  Is this trend just a result of all the free alternatives or is Gen-Y just so connected, that streaming has replaced the need to download and “playback” local content?  Personally, I think music has become such a commodity that an entire generation has forgotten what it feels like to take the shrink wrap off of a new CD or read liner notes…Cherry picking singles is the norm now and the act of buying music is simply foreign…I feel sorry for those still in the business trying to sell recorded music as their primary revenue source.  Those days are over and monetizing music (for any age group) has never been harder.