Here's what I found when I asked my sister and her friends about their mobile data usage

Technology has made it very easy for anyone to produce content- be it a self published book, videos or anything else in the digital sphere. With this ease and empowerment, you'd feel that 'creation' is democratized and more people would want to create but when I ventured out from my silo, I figured that the number of consumers far outweigh the number of creators. In Mumbai locals (Mumbai locals and mobile phones: what is being consumed?), it is a common sight to see people catching up on movies on their cell phones while commuting. Same is the case with the Delhi Metro or other public spaces where people have time at hands.

Back at home after a while, I could see how much technology had penetrated. My parents use WhatsApp daily with some amazing use cases- Buying vegetables: dad clicks a picture of the vegetables being bought, mom approves and the purchase is made. But the teenagers of today are the regular customers of tomorrow and hence I thought of peering into what my cousin sister was doing with her mobile. In the final year of engineering, mobile phone is more like an extension of the body for her. The main purposes for the phone are entertainment and staying connected with friends.

Contemplating on whether the material would make for a good read, I asked around and found that most of the people would be interested but a valid caveat also came out. "App sets beyond WhatsApp/Facebook are very different for different friend circles," Shyam Somanadh, a technologist told me. For the current topic, I have a small sample set from an engineering college in Gujarat. My sister and her friends would fall in the more technology savvy category and might not be representative of any bigger group but there were some clear insights that emerged from my discussions:

Instagram is the social network of choice

Facebook is more for the older generation. These youngsters have the Facebook app but rarely engage on it. "Between FB and Instagram, I prefer Instagram. No bullshit and pictures convey more than sentences," is what one of the guys has to say.

I like Instagram because I can see what my friends are doing, get fashion ideas, architectural world,and what my favourite starts are upto!

This doesn't come as a huge surprise entirely since we've been hearing about Facebook losing steam from forever now. Facebook's penetration will make it hard for people to leave the platform and it certainly has time to lure the young user base back but it will be an uphill ride. Youngsters have taken to the clutter free, more image intensive networks and the direction is clear if that is your target market.

APK distribution and Piracy

I never really believed that people would download APK files and use an app like that. It looks too insecure but that was untill I saw a phone that had two APK files as the most used apps- ShowBox and Tubemate. Showbox allows you to download and watch TV serials/movies while Tubemate lets you download any Youtube video. Here's sample video that is floated to help users with downloading an APK file:

Showbox is outright piracy but it hard to control this. I asked a young developer Pulkit Madan, the founder of NewPeer about controlling this but there's no real solution. "Even if one of the source is blocked, the developer can always float out another link," he says. Well, this might be against the law but shows that if you build something a user really wants, he or she would go to any extent to get it.

Browsing is minimal on phone

The days when Google used to be the default way to go about the internet aren't that far behind. Now, most people go straight to apps to do their thing. My sister uses it for finding meaning of words or phrases or some other such question but more broadly, she has a sense of where to go and doesn't rely a lot on browsing. Another mobile savvy friend of hers says,

I surf internet for my football updates, Bollywood and videos that I have subscribed or collecting info during project work.

And this is why Google has to advertise. It has a lion's share right now but it needs to be on the top of the game to keep that position. User behavior on the web is changing very fast.

Other general notes

Talking of individual apps might become more biased but just for the sake of it, here are the names I heard upon asking:

For messaging: Whatsapp, Snapchat

For news: Drippler, Feedly, News365, Play NewsStand

For music: Saavn, Soundcloud

This particular group of youngsters use the mobile mainly for entertainment and communication. Mention of any elearning was non-existent, the closest we got to was with browsing for things they're unaware of.

As a developer, a creator, it is very important to have these regular checks into different circles and see what is working out. The observations would surely serve as good reference points while building. If you have an interesting trend to report, do drop in a comment!