Who says reading a book has become an outdated, leisure pursuit from the past?   Seems like this hobby has kept pace with upcoming technologies. In the UK the iBook app has gained more popularity than the all in rage Facebook and Twitter applications. As reported:

According to research and consulting organisation YouGov’s TabletTracker report, exclusively seen by The Bookseller, 78% of iPad owners with wi-fi and 3G contracts have downloaded the iBooks app. This is more popular than the app for social networking sites Facebook (52% of wi-fi/3G owners have downloaded) and Twitter (34%).

So, book reading has continued to flourish with technology updates and even took advantages of the mobility and reduced weight and size features.  We’re seeing similar convergence paths for folks that like to read newspapers, as digital means grow in popularity but don’t entirely replace the feel of an actual newspaper.

The rising popularity of e-reading applications can be linked to another trend as well. This trend is the growing influence of mobile devices that primarily run apps. Sales statistics show that iPad sales have taken over netbook sales, indicating a parallel demand for devices that run apps built to meet specific consumer needs.

No telling how long the trend keeps up, though, with Facebook continuing to add consumer specifics around its social network activity.  The inclusion of Instant Personalization through a partnership with Rotten Tomatoes turns every user into a useful movie critic, revisiting a concept that was once ousted from Facebook a couple of years back.  Now that Facebook’s getting a second chance at leveraging users as consumers, we could see a great deal of direct benefits (I use that term loosely) around the social network as it pushes forward with its mobile distribution platform.