UNSURE which app to download to your smartphone? While you waver, internet giants like Apple and Google could soon be predicting what you will install by analysing how you interact with your friends.
A team at MIT’s Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, analysed social-network behaviour among smartphone users to see if it could help forecast app downloads. The research could give developers a valuable insight into why someone chooses to download particular apps. “We thought, ‘Can we use social networks to find which apps people might find interesting?’ ” says team member Wei Pan. “We found it difficult.”