Ping, Apple's Music Social Network, Needs Improvements

There was eager anticipation on the evening of September 1^st, 2010 when the iTunes 10, the content management software upgrade created by Apple, was finally made available to the public. A great deal of that enthusiasm had to do with Ping, Apple's first effort at an iTunes social network.

No Bulk Import of Friends From Other Networks

It didn't take me long after setting up my Ping profile to see that Apple has a real long way to go if they hope to make Ping something that is actually compelling and useful to music fans who want to network. As the system is currently constructed, there is no easy way to bulk import the friends you have on other social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. A few years ago this would not have been problem, but in 2010 users expect an easy, portable way to keep their friends with them when they try out new social networks. Sending out email invites is no longer the way to go. In fact, it seems they did know this, as indications show that Ping did have access to Facebook Connect, a service that allows you to determine which of your Facebook friends are on Ping, initially, but since release that option has disappeared. Kara Swisher, of BoomTown, confronted Steve Jobs about why Ping doesn't integrate with Facebook and he revealed that "Apple had indeed held talks with Facebook about a variety of unspecified partnerships related to Ping, but the discussions went nowhere...Facebook wanted onerous terms that we could not agree to."

I think Steve Jobs is being completely genuine here. Facebook has had a constant ongoing problem with privacy concerns that really gathered steam with the Beacon scandal a couple of years ago. I also imagine that Zuckerberg and crew made it as difficult as possible, because Ping is definitely something that could threaten the Facebook network. With that in mind, I would have hoped that Apple might have been able to make an agreement with Twitter, or even Digg for that matter. Both likely would have worked within the privacy concerns that Apple had, and perhaps an early commitment by either of these brands might have caused the dam to burst and force Facebook in to cooperating. I guess the world will never know.

No Friends Albums and Songs Activity Overview

If it seems a bit odd to you that Apple created a social network now, don't be. Ever since they purchased Lala in December of 2010, the tech world had been wondering just how long would it be before we saw its implementation into iTunes, or even on the web. Lala did a very good at implementing the social elements of networking with those who share a passion for music. A key feature for achieving this objective was to display in your timeline which of the songs you and your friends were actually listening to at any given moment. As Ping is currently constructed I don't see which songs my friends have currently listened to, I only see which songs or albums they have "liked", purchased, or reviewed, and these are listed on an individual basis until eventually they will disappear into the ether over the passage of time. Additionally, I've been disappointed to see that there is not an easy way to see an overview of all of the albums and songs they have ever liked, as well as seeing which albums my friend may not have officially liked, but is listening to with regularity, either in iTunes or on any of their iOS devices, without having to scroll laboriously through their timeline.

Hard to Meet Other Like Minded Listeners

Additionally I cannot visit the page of an album and see an interactive list of all of the profiles who have liked that album, thus introducing me to others who love the album.

Some User Interface Tweaking Needed

Everyone has a song they love off an album that has nothing else they are particularly passionate about, and while Ping has a feature that allows you to "Like" just one song at a time, it is buried in a drop down menu that is not necessarily the most intuitive place to find it.

No Generalized Status Updates

Another huge mistake was not including status updates for ordinary profiles. This privilege seems to be reserved merely for the artists that are perceived by Apple as being "professional" enough to deserve one. You can post a review of an album or song by an artist, but you cannot simply make a generalized statement to the rest of your followers about something that is on your mind. I understand that Apple wanted to keep the focus on music, but this feature, after being unveiled by Twitter, and being adopted by Facebook, has come to be expected on every social network out there.

I blame the record industry for some of these problems. I'm sure the industry would like a social network (if you can call it that) that allows only the major label artists to control the message, and keeps an audience captive, but not entirely interactive, and perhaps that is how Apple got them on board about Ping.

Ping has the potential to be something special, but it still has a long way to go if it expects to be used and not merely adopted and forgotten in a dispassionate way.

BoomTown, Kara Swisher:
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100902/steve-jobs-on-why-facebook-is-not-part-of-apples-new-ping-music-social-network-onerous-terms/