A new website has been designed to help users navigate the massive size of the Apple App Store by recommending applications based on social network profiles.
The “16apps” service works in conjunction with Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or LastFM accounts to find out information regarding hobbies, interests, lifestyle and character, and then uses that data to make application recommendations.
For example, if a user enters Facebook status updates about politics, the 16apps service may recommend an app such as “Political Tweets”.
The service comes at a time when Apple itself is trying to help users navigate the store, with some developers claiming the 60,000+ apps is making the store too difficult to navigate. The company has even introduced a “Genius” function to recommend applications to users based on their existing app library.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
