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Apple's Ill-Fated Social Network 'Ping' Launched 10 Years Ago Today

I had forgotten about this one, But also this was the height age of FaceBook & Twitter!!!
 
I remember in the demo when Steve Jobs showed his profile and the picture was of a younger healthier Jobs compared to the obviously very sick and very thin Jobs giving the demo and the audience nervously laughed when he put his pic up.

At the time, Facebook and Twitter had such impetus behind them that Ping was probably doomed from the start. I remember it feeling overtly commercial and directly to do with driving sales of the ITMS. FB and Twitter were free and cool and not at all commercial (yeah I was very naive in those days!)
 
[QUOTE="AngerDanger, post:]

It would've been a mess, but imagine if you could view user comments right next to songs you searched for on iTunes. If you clicked to view more, it'd take you to a more full-fledged Ping interface.

It would've been annoying to those disinterested in user comments, but it seems better than hiding Ping in a tab to the right that only gets opened a couple times accidentally. It might be like the YouTube comments section—a dumpster fire but one that still burns to this day.
[/QUOTE]

You’vemade me think about something missing from Apple Music - it’s pretty much asocial, theres lists of songs but no interaction or reviews or comments.

I want to be able to chat with fans of some obscure track.
 
Problem is artist never took to it. Sure, some might have, but you’d need the entire music industry to move over. Good idea but they should have put more effort to get artist buy in
 
Mr. Awesome said:
Most of Ping’s failure was from its focus on music. If Apple had launched a social network that was a social network, not specifically a music social network, I think it would’ve been met with more success.
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It's not too late. Does everyone reaaaaaally like Facebook's privacy issues?
 
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Social networks and Apple is something that imho can't work. Not even for music. Apple is too much of a control freak to offer an open, customizable plattform with content defined solely by the community.
Everyone whoever posted in the official Apple community forums probably knows...

Then again it's Apple only. It doesn't really make sense why Apple isn't going more crossplattform. They don't need to deliver the same experience on other plattforms as on iOS and macOS, but it shouldn't be completely crappy either.
I mean the iCloud app for Windows is a mess. So was iTunes. Microsoft learned to go crossplattform, but Apple is really stuck in the past with their approach. At the end of the day they are making a lot of money with services. Why sell to iOS and macOS users only? Bottom line: If you launch a social network that way it's doomed to fail.
 
With all the uproar about lack of privacy these days re social network data mining I wish Apple would try again. The market seems ripe for something fresh.
 
I think the issue with Ping not succeeding was more that expecting consumers to connect and interact with Ping, through iTunes, simply based upon musical preferences/interests was just too focused for most people. On Facebook and Twitter, you can follow and connect with music artists, friends, other areas of interest (cars, sports, politics, etc.), and since most people don’t live their lives around listening to music, you get more out of other social media connections, than Ping could offer.

I kind of get the same vibe from AppleTV+. I have had it since it started (got it with my 11 Pro Max purchase) and hardly ever watch any of the shows, even those I should want to watch. It always feels like I have to get out of my normal entertainment loop (Netflix, Prime or RCN) just to look through a handful of show options, so I end up skipping it more than watching.
 
Is it ill fated? I'm looking at my Music app right now and I can follow artists, look at the songs my friends are listening to, like and share songs with my family. Hell, you can even listen to radio shows hosted by artists these days. It's not dead. It's just rebranded and merged into a new product.
 
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It was a time when every company in Silicon Valley had an if we build it, they will come mentality concerning social networks.
 
Oh this is so weird. Why don't I remember this at all? Not it existing nor getting shut down? Creepy.
 
Naraxus said:
At least they're getting better at services. This was such a disaster.
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Yes, but they're still pretty slow to embrace social. But maybe they have no interest, and that's fine.

At this point I think Apple could make a run at Facebook if they wanted to.
 
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