The New Year’s Kiss: An East Coast Tradition?

January 06, 2012 |  Posted By : Barbara  In : Mobile Industry, Mobile Marketing

Millions of people hope to celebrate the stroke of midnight on January 1 with a kiss to ring in the New Year. According to the Huffington Post, the tradition stems from German and English folklore, where the first person you encounter in a new year sets the tone for the next 12 months. If that’s true, we might have some bad news for everyone living west of the Rockies:

Analyzing the activity on mobile advertising and marketing provider Velti’s exchange platform, the East Coast experienced a significant 16% drop in mobile app activity for a 5 minute period beginning at 12:00 am (a.k.a. prime smooching time) on January 1, 2012. Surprisingly, the same period saw only a 5% drop in mobile app activity on the West coast.

Maybe the East Coast just takes its NYE celebrations a bit more seriously (hello, Times Square!), or maybe West Coasters need to put down their smartphones and step up their game if they’re looking for love in 2012!