U2's iTunes Stunt Actually Worked

After all the hubbub over the iTunes/U2 album giveaway at the end of last summer has died down, it looks like the promotion actually worked after all.

Research company Kantar found that 24% of all iOS music listeners in the US listened to the band's Songs of Innocence album within 5 months of its release.

In fact, Kantor found that even as recently as January, more than twice the number of people listened to U2 than the current hottest artist on the planet, Taylor Swift.

T he study found that nearly every iOS owner who listened to U2 in that time period listened to at least one song from Songs of Innocence.

A lot of skeptics have since blasted the study as being biased towards English speakers or towards U2, but the fact remains that at the end of the day the giveaway did its job to get the album in front of a very large audience, and much of that audience actually listened. That's all an artist can ask from any promotion.

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Young Users Fleeing "Dead and Buried" Facebook

There's been empirical evidence that teens have been fleeing Facebook for some time, but a new study by London's University College now confirms that teens "feel embarrassed even to be associated with it." In fact, to many older teens, Facebook is "not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried," according to the report.

The Global Social Media Impact Study observed the social networking of 16 to 18 year olds in 8 countries over the course of 15 months. The study found that for that age group, Facebook activity was being replaced by WhatsApp and Snapchat. Of course, Facebook recently purchased WhatsApp for a reported $19 billion in cash and stock, and one has to wonder if this study played a part.

The interesting thing is that teens still maintain Facebook accounts at the insistence of their families in order for them to stay in touch with older relatives, the study pointed out. This is somewhat ironic in that it wasn't that long ago when parents were increasingly concerned about their kids spending time on the network.

Another interesting point was that most teens acknowledged that Facebook is actually better than anything else at things like scheduling parties and observing people's relationships, but opted for the other networks anyway. This proves that slicker doesn't always equal better.

If Facebook is to integrate WhatsApp into its network, it can bring that age group back into the fold, guaranteeing a sustained user base at least for the short term. Say what you want about the service, in this case it seems to have made a strategic move at just the right time.

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