Social Distance Drives the Convergence of Preferences in an Online Music Sharing Network

Music sharing websites with social network capabilities now allow us a greater insight into how people sift through cultural product choices through their relationships with others. Here, we look at the social network and listening activity on Herzio.com (http://www.herzio.com). We filter through the data and measure sharing activity based on different network features (social distance, friendship, and community structure) and one of the website's features, music recommendations. We find that social distance drives sharing, with greater sharing occurring at the beginning of a period of activity.