Two Weeks on Apple’s Ping OR “Is Anybody Out There?”

When it comes to technology, I am under the firm belief that it is important to give something a real go before judging it. I’ve been on Apple’s Ping music-based social network for 2 weeks now and I finally feel like I am ready to make a ruling. Unfortunately for Jobs and co., it’s not one they are going to like – Ping is bad. Really bad. Terrible in fact. So bad that I would rather listen to a two hour recital for the local beginner’s Suzuki violin-based music program than spend another hour messing around with Ping.

The worst part might be that there are so many different bad parts, that I have no idea where to start. But here goes my attempt. The five reasons why Apple’s Ping needs to meet the fate of Google Wave (at best) but should really disappear all together in order to facilitate quick un-remembering.

Five Major Ping Fails:

1. Population – Apple billed Ping as its very own music-based social network, the final nail in MySpace’s coffin capable of rivalling and even surpassing the social aspects of Last FM (though without the all important streaming function). However, for either of these predictions to come true, large numbers of people would actually need to be using Ping, which they are not currently doing.
2. Sign-Up – To be able to get a Ping account, it is necessary to go through an iTunes store account. This isn’t a problem in and of itself except for the major issue that in most countries outside of the United States it is necessary to use a credit card to create an account. Do you think nearly as many people would be on Facebook if it required a credit card to sign up? Definitely not. Yes, there is a work around (by going through the App Store) to be able to get an account, but it is cumbersome and few but the most keen and most savvy potential Ping users would be willing/able to follow through. There are lots of people who do not have and do not want a credit card (I being one of them). Apple needs to stop pretending like we don’t exist.
3. Search – Those few people (especially interesting people) that are actually on Ping are next to impossible to find. Without being able to easily connect to friends on other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, or even being able to find people via an email contact book, building a network is very difficult. Add to that ridiculous suggestions from Apple on people/artists to follow (no Apple I do not want to follow Miley Cyrus!) and this alone is a recipe for disaster.
4. Personalization – Considering that Apple is the largest online music retailer, it should certainly know better than to suggest that a person can only like three different genres of music. Furthermore, that Apple would force Ping members to choose from such a limited list is downright embarrassing. Where is folk on the list? Or blues? Can’t jazz music be inspirational? When has someone ever responded “soundtrack” when asked what kind of music they like to listen to?
5. Like – Ping only allows users (at time of posting) to like music they have purchased or are purchasing from the iTunes store. For someone like me who prefers to buy CDs, this means that my commitment to purchasing music in local record stores or at concert venues doesn’t count for anything. I understand that Apple is a company and wants to make money, and quite possibly thinks that this constraint will encourage people to buy more music from the iTunes store. But, at the same time Apple needs to recognize, if it is truly serious about becoming the network for music lovers, that none of the major social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube etc. – grew within a highly commercialized network model and there is no reason to suggest that Ping could be the exception. Even where social networks, Last FM being a prime example, have developed a highly commercial model, they have done so after generating a wide user base who is familiar with the services offered and is excited about the great value that they will be getting for any dollars spent.

Now I’m not doing anything as drastic as shutting my Ping account down completely. I hope that Apple goes back to the drawing board, and does so quickly, to be able to work out all of the major kinks in Ping. But, I remain cynical. Apple, at least lately, seems to have forgotten what it is to be cool. Bullies and control freaks may seem cool in high school, but in the real world it is the carefree, the open, the useful and the fun that are cool, just like it was when we were children. Apple it’s time to grow up.*

* Note in interest of fairness, this was written from a MacBook (though using open source software).

Social Media: Where Should We Draw the Privacy Line?

I like social media a lot. But I like my computer, drum kit and Playstation more. Not only do I enjoy playing a Playstation (2) or drum kit more than I enjoy tweeting, but I also much prefer owning these things than being on the cutting edge of social media. That is why my line is drawn at Four Square – maybe the correct terminology should be my line is drawn just before Four Square –  regardless of the wording, I am on one side and Four Square is definitely on the other. Four Square isn’t lonely though as it’s joined by nearly all applications that can track you and reveal your real-life whereabouts online.

For those of you familiar with Four Square, it is a location-based social networking site and global game where users use their mobile phones (through text, applications, or internet access) to “check in” at different locations pretty much anywhere. I’ve seen check-ins at coffee shops, tourist sites and even forests – nowhere seems to be off limits. Users can collect badges and points based on the number of times they check into location which can be redeemed for discounts or other perks. Plus there is the glory of being the first person to “check in” somewhere.

There are obvious privacy implications with using this kind of software. Please Rob Me said it first (and best): “The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home.” This is why for me there is this trade-off – I can either join my friends on Four Square and increase my chances of being burgled or I can not join in and keep my Playstation and drums. It seems like a no-brainer.

And in this unfair world that we live in, as a woman not only would I be putting the safety of my belongings into jeopardy, I’d also be risking my personal safety. That women (and men too) are experiencing an increase in cyberstalking should come as no surprise – we already reveal so much of ourselves on our Twitter accounts and Facebook profiles, that even for someone as privacy conscious as myself it wouldn’t be difficult for someone to compile a lot of data on me. But whereas with Facebook creeping and Twitter over-following there still seems to be some sort of barrier from it crossing too-often into the real world (though this barrier is still crossed with alarming frequency) Four Square blows away this barrier entirely. As your Twitter follower (and really what percentage of Twitter users protect their tweets), if you have your Four Square synced I can easily track you down anywhere nearly any time. There have been cases of this already, though the two that have been most high-profile of late are mostly benign (How I Became a Four Square Cyber Stalker in The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Night I Was Cyberstalked on Four Square from The Guardian) I can easily see this slipping into the dark quite quickly.

Now I’m not advocating that these technologies be abandoned entirely, I’m just saying that I think we as users of social media need to think carefully about the compromises and trade-offs that we are being asked to make for the sake of being part of the ‘in-crowd’. If you think that having the chance to meet new people, cultivate off-line relationships with on-line personas and get 10% off your morning coffee is worth the privacy risks then go for it. For me it just isn’t. It’s entirely possible that I’m just paranoid, in fact it is likely, but I would rather exist in my tiny bubble of false security than exist any other way. I’ll keep meeting new people the old-fashioned way  - striking up conversations and letting them evolve naturally based on listening fully to the other person, relying on my gut instinct to guide me rather than a digital list of common interests. Not only  does this seem less creepy but it also seems more fun.