Apple's Ping tops 1M users in two days, but it's no Google Buzz

September 3, 2010 | Devindra Hardawar

Apple announced just a few hours ago that its new music-centered social network Ping has surpassed 1 million users in a mere two days.

While the announcement may seem impressive, if you consider that iTunes has over 160 million accounts tied to credit cards (and certainly a lot more if you include accounts without cards), I’m honestly surprised Apple didn’t hit the 1 million line in 24 hours.

According to Apple, one-third of people who downloaded iTunes 10 have signed up for Ping. If we’re counting 1 million users out of 3 million, Ping definitely appears to be more of a success. But it remains to be seen if that momentum will carry through as more users upgrade.

As a somewhat related comparison, Google’s Buzz social network for Gmail — which had around 170 million users at the time of Buzz’s release — saw tens of millions of users in two days. Before you accuse me of fanboyism, let me note the following: Yes, it was certainly easier for users to sign up for Buzz since it didn’t require downloading and installing new software, as well as going through a registration process. Buzz is also in no way a success for Google.

But at the same time, Buzz and Ping shared the same problem many budding social networks do — nobody knew what to do with them when they launched. Buzz was clearly a stab at Twitter-meets-Friendfeed conversations in Gmail, but aside from importing users’ current social network contributions into the service, I didn’t see many conversations actually taking place on Buzz. It was one of many services I’ve signed up for but was never motivated to continue using.

Ping suffers the same “What now?” problem. It’s easy enough to sign up for it, but afterwards you’re faced with searching for your friends, and manually finding artists that you like. Once you’re following people, you’re mainly seeing artists recommend their albums — something that fans don’t really need help with. Artists can also post photos and cute messages, but again, at this point that’s something they can do better on MySpace or Facebook.

So I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the users who’ve signed up for Ping don’t know with what to do with it. Apple needs to get its Facebook friend importing up and running again, and clearly define what people can do with Ping if it’s going to become a thriving social network.

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Tags: Buzz, Google Buzz, Ping, social network

About the Author, Devindra Hardawar

Devindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's National Editor and lead mobile writer. He has been writing about technology since 2004, worked in IT support for several years, and studied philosophy at Amherst College. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.

http://ryocentral.info Ryo

Well they have an advantage. Instead of Goole, Apple has no thinking customers. They WILL use Ping, because it's from Apple, no matter what.So Ping could be successful for some part of iTunes-Users.
http://www.devindra.org Devindra Hardawar

You're right about that I was just avoiding Apple-user bashing.
DimensionM

Saying that all of Apple's 160 million customers “don't think” kinda makes it look like you didn't think when you wrote that statement. It's sad when haters have to resort to “Apple can sell anything” logic. Do a few seconds of research and you'll see Apple has had relative non-successful products (Apple TV). But I get it – haters gotta hate.
DimensionM

Ping might not be a Google Buzz, but it's already successful enough not to be a Google Wave.
wired-4058

Is the 160 million users number worldwide or just the US?If I am not mistaken goog buzz was pushed to all gmail users so there is a difference.
http://twitter.com/Fourthletter58 David Simpson

I think your message is a perfect example, not of haters gotta hate, but of LOVERS GOTTA LOVE.You love it because you love Apple and that is sad.
http://ryocentral.info Ryo

Right, haters… that's when you don't like Apple and saying the truth. But you know that I'm right. Otherwise you would not have the urge to take a stand against this “unthinkable” posting.
DimensionM

@David Simpson – Right… I love Apple so much I said they had non-successful products. Brilliant.@Ryo – By that logic if i wrote a poorly thought out post about Android, Google, Microsoft, etc… then you responding to refute that would confirm that I would be right. LOL… I'm not saying you have to like Apple at all – but your comments really aren't helping your team's cause buddy.
http://www.devindra.org Devindra Hardawar

Not sure if the iTunes numbers are worldwide, but that was the number Apple said it was hitting with Ping. And yes, I mentioned that it was much easier for users to sign up for Buzz. Using Ping requires downloading iTunes 10, and then signing up for it.Basically, I know it's not a perfect example, but it's an interesting comparison I think.
http://msitarzewski.com/ msitarzewski

I'm more curious about how many people watched the stream of the announcement. That will be an interesting number. Re Ping, I've been in iTunes more in the last few days than I have in quite a while. for whatever that's worth.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_76QKNL5C6PWTZQAG7ITZ7TBVTA Edward

Yes you said it was much easier but you failed to mention that it was an “opt-out” rather than a “sign up”. It's those little details which make for a huge difference. Then again it seems Apple is trying to reinvent the original AOL/Compuserve days of walled gardens and proprietary interfaces. Somehow I don't think it will work now any better than it did then although it does allow users to self select and it's in addition to regular access and not a controlled portal.
http://twitter.com/m1llw1ll Will Simons

I think the author of this article is glossing the facts somewhat. From what I can recall, I was never given the option of “signing up” to Google Buzz. Instead, I had to “opt out” of the service… so the author's figure of “170 million users” is not a credible comparison. If Google had taken the same approach as Apple, and given their users more choice, we might have had a comparison worth discussing. As it stands, the article smacks a little too much of fanboyism.