Critics Skeptical About Apple's Ping

On Sep. 1, Steve Jobs announced Apple’s new music-based social network, Ping, at Apple’s fall keynote. While this news might seem like a good idea to most music artists and fans, some people are skeptical of Ping’s ability to succeed in today’s saturated world of social networks.

Although Ping has already reached over 1 million users -- within 48 hours following its launch -- critics say that one of Ping’s toughest obstacles will be competing with Facebook. Many online users have already chosen Facebook and Twitter as their go-to site to spend their time. Ping has a long way to go to catch up to Facebook’s 500 million users.

eWeek.com, an online technology publication, listed 10 reasons why Apple’s Ping network won’t work. Here is a summary:

1. It’s one of many

2. Buzz should be a lesson

3. Full Facebook integration would be nice

4. Speaking of Facebook – it’s a titan

5. Specialized services rarely do well

6. Growing pains

7. Success is a relative term

8. Artists will need to buy into it

9. The future isn’t in iTunes as users know it

10. It will get lost in the mobile noise

I think that a music-based social network is a great idea, even though it has already been attempted (MySpace Music, Last.fm, Zune Social). Apple does have a bigger advantage, however, because of its large iTunes user base.

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James Cisneros

Bands at SXSW Take Adavantage of Social Networking Opportunities

This past week Austin was home to the one and only SXSW festival. Comprised of three parts (interactive, film and music) it’s no wonder all the geeks and hipsters more or less shut down service to iphones and all other AT&T customers in the downtown area.

What were they doing on their phones: Connecting with their fans through countless venues of social networking sites.

A lot of the attendees of the festival are the most connected, blog savvy individuals one could ever find. They are constantly updating their Twitter accounts, posting photos to Facebook and uploading last night’s show to YouTube.

PR professionals like Ariel Hyatt say this is a brilliant way for fans to interact with bands. The accessibility, she says turns a “listener into a fanatic”.

Ultra connected bands like Choo Choo even did a tweet up with two fellow Texas State students at the convention center for a quick interview, which I caught with a picture and uploaded to TwitPic from my phone, of course. But there are bands that still prefer to stay private and disconnected, no matter how much success being social media savvy means.

It brings up an interesting point: How accessible is too accessible and when do you just become over-exposed?

I love being able to connect with my favorite artists and professionals I admire, but I don’t need to know when they’re using the restroom. It kills the mysterious appeal that made them cool and follow worthy to begin with.

There’s a fine line bands and others will have to learn to define so as not to be overly connected and accessible.