Ping: Apple's Attempt at Social Networking

One of the minor announcements coming from Apple's latest PR conference was the development of Ping. This new feature available on iTunes is an attempt to bring social networking to their popular music software program and have people share their music with friends. Jobs and the rest of the Apple team said they had high hopes for Ping and its potential impact for users. According to CNET's Buzz Out Loud (Episodes 1300 and 1301), however, there are already several issues facing this new feature.


Several blog posts from the online version of the Wall Street Journal and the technology driven blog All Things Digital (URL's at bottom) have pointed out some of the early flaws with the network. One of the key features originally advertised by Jobs and Apple was the ability to connect your Ping account with Facebook. This was a move that many believed would be a key selling point and get people interested in using Ping. Right before the launch, however, the two sides could not reach an agreement and "Facebook Connect" features were lost.

The loss of Facebook meant a huge loss in real social networking functionality for Ping. Ping is extremely limited in networking features, as people are unable to find their friends or favorite iTunes artists, have no typical "homepage" or "wall" for sharing, and can only comment on things they have liked (artists, songs, or albums). The biggest issues has been the lack of security features. Since the launch of Ping, spammers and phishing scams have been covering most of the comment sections, most notably offering free iPhone's and iPod's (which is hysterical). These phishing and scam attacks present a unique challenge for iTunes, as every account is tied to credit card information, unlike other social networking sites that only require basic personal information.


When you couple this with the recent iPhone issues, it seems Apple has fallen out of touch with their customers. It appears their newest business model is "let's design anything we feel like, regardless of quality, because we can get people to use anything we make." Apple needs to change their current path before public perception concerning their company slowly begins to change.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/03/ping-proves-problematic-for-some/

http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100902/facebook-blocked-api-access-to-ping-after-failure-to-strike-agreement-so-apple-removed-feature-after-launch/