Ping, The Next Social Network by Apple

The BBC News posted a story September 1 2010 featuring the introduction of the newest social network for music, Ping by Apple. As an addition to the newest iTunes software, Ping is a logical extension for iTunes users. Ping is music based, and is a direct competitor to other music based social networks, such as MySpace, among others.

Ping is a social base for musicians, music lovers, and their friends. As with MySpace, musicians can share their music and discover fellow musicians. Ping also searches the play lists of friends, and makes references to users based on their friends' play lists. This social network will scan the top ten album and song picks of friends and artists followed, then post the selections to the network pages. The exciting new service will be available for the Mac and PC through the iTunes software, and through iTunes applications on iPhones and iPads.

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As many music lovers already have subscribed to the convenience of iTunes, Ping could quickly become a fast competitor, and destroyer, of social networks such as MySpace. Another network in possible trouble from the forming competition is Spotify, which allows its users to publish playlists and artists via Facebook. Spotify also allows users to download iTunes playlists. It seems natural Ping would compete strongly against such existing networks.

Apple, however, does not want to convey the message they are trying to compete with other social media networks, nor are they trying to carve out market shares belonging to other networks. Apple bills the new software simply as a new way to discover music, not a takeover of the already established social forums. When comparing the new network to Facebook, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak differentiated the two by calling Facebook life, and Ping music. Mr. Wozniak defined each network as covering different aspects of a world of one unifying whole.

Some reviewer pitfalls of the product were complaints that the music recommendations were the same for all users. Also, users are not happy that they cannot import friend lists from other social networks. Perhaps these are complaints Apple can address when they produce next year's updated version of their newest break into the world of technology and media.

The software is worth a trial for those already subscribed to iTunes. Any software offered by Apple is worthy of a review by fans of Apple and their impressive line of ever improving products. Perhaps this is the newest Facebook, or MySpace, or Spotify. Whatever the software aspires to be, or becomes, it will certainly have an impact on the music community, as Apple hardly produces many pieces which do not succeed greatly.

Ping, The Next Social Network by Apple

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5 Advantages of Using Custom Social Network Software

If you're thinking about building your social networking site then you are probably considering the advantages and the disadvantages of using custom social network software over using commercial software. To help you make a decision about whether or not to have some custom software built for your company here are the top 5 advantages of using custom software over commercial social software:

1. Branding - If you are using custom software that was designed just for your company then you use your social networking site as a great branding opportunity. The site can be made in your company colors with themes and graphics that reflect your products. Many commercial social networking programs won't let you use all of your own graphics when you're building the site.

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2. Design and layout - If you are having your own software built just for your company then you can have total control over the layout and the design of the site. That way you can control all the navigation and use the layout of the site to push customers towards certain areas. When you use commercial software you often don't have total control over the layout and design of the site because you have to work from a pre-programmed template.

3. Features - This is a big one. When you are using custom or personalized software you can have all the features that you want the site to have built into the software but you don't need to have the ones that you don't want. When you use commercial software often there are features built into the design that you can't get rid of. Some of the features will be customizable but not all of them. When you are you using software that's built just for your site you can decide what features to offer and what features your site doesn't need.

4. Originality - If you are using commercial software to build your online community site then chances are good your site will end up looking like a bunch of other sites that are all using the same software. When you use software build to your own design specs your site won't look like any other corporate site which will help with the brand recognition of your product.

5. Compatibility - If you're building a social networking site as an addition to your regular website then using software that you helped design and that is built just for your company will make it possible to build a social networking site that will fit seamlessly into your existing website and function well with other aspects of your website, like a shopping cart that customers can use to buy products. If you're using commercial software you might have a hard time getting the social networking site to work properly with your website.

5 Advantages of Using Custom Social Network Software

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