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| Christopher Victorio |
| Ping will let Lady Gaga reach out to her fans in new ways. |
Apple CEO
Steve Jobs announced today that his company is hopping on the social network bandwagon with a service, called Ping, that will connect music fans, musicians, and their friends and followers. Jobs describes Ping -- which will be available on Apple mobile devices, but not through web browsers -- as "Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes."
Fair enough. But it has taken Facebook years to build itself into the giant of online social networks, and Twitter, while ubiquitous, is still struggling to figure out exactly how to make money. Is there a case to be made for Apple diving into social just as other big, big fish -- including
Google -- are rumored to be working on similar services?
In a word: Yes.