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.