I am, “pinging”??

17Sep10

For the past week I have been without a computer. I am moving to France for a year and wanted to get it cleaned out and updated before traveling to another country. So today when I got it back, I was playing around with the features of Mac’s Snow Leopard operating system (I know, I know, I should have had this installed like a year ago) and when I opened my ever opened iTunes I was introduced to a new form of social media: Ping!

I am not sure I have totally jumped on the band wagon with this one, but I have made an account and am attempting to figure it out. For those who haven’t updated their own iTunes to discover this new attraction, Ping allows you to connect with other iTunes users. You create a profile and then “followers” can see what you purchased, what genres you enjoy, which artists you follow–this being the key to music industry’s use of social media: being able to talk directly with artists you love.

My first artist follow was Ingrid Michaelson. iTunes actually suggested it to me (providing suggestions like this is a common feature on social networking sites. For example Facebook now asks you to reconnect with friends, or asks why you aren’t friends with a certain person based on the fact that 12 of your friends are connected with that person, yata yata yata). Even Ingrid is trying to get used to this program as she says, “i keep trying to post things but then nothing happens! testing testing…”

So it will be a learning process for us all. Wonder if it will be a hit?

Problem I have so far: I don’t really want people seeing what music I buy. Solution: privacy settings allow me to screen followers before they see my information.

Have you tried Ping? Is it helpful? Does it allow you to find new music or artists?