Ping

'Ping' is the latest feature for iTunes. How is it different?

Ping allows you to follow friends and artists, and to discover more about them. Profiles can be personalised with a biography, status updates, the person’s location, posting videos and photos, sharing music they like, what concerts they are going to next… Does any of this sound familiar? If you still aren’t too sure, the Ping tagline should clarify things: Introducing Ping. A social network for music.

I found it really interesting that iTunes are entering the social market. Is it because they have seen the success of Twitter and Facebook, and have therefore decided to try and incorporate some of the aspects from these two particular social networks into Ping? Or is social networking becoming a normal form of communication? It even has its own Recent Activity feed, very similar to Facebook. I also wonder if iTunes are trying to compete with Spotify – do they regard them as a strong competitor?

I think it’s a shame that Apple used many features similar to other social networks. It would have been nice if Apple had created an element, which was completely new and differentiated Ping. Being the creators of the iMac, iPod and iPhone, I just expected more. A part of me also wishes that Apple had continued the “i” trend, but then again iPing doesn’t sound quite right…