• Giga Om et al., Thursday, September 2, 2010 1:16 PM

A day after Apple's big press event, and a slew of announcements, what's everyone talking about? Ping -- a new feature that helps turn Apple's iTunes content store into a quasi-social network.

At first glance, Ping left some in the media underwhelmed. "I would have expected more from Apple with this first attempt at building a community around iTunes," writes PCWorld's Ian Paul. "It's not all bad, but if Ping doesn't improve soon this music-oriented social network will bomb faster than an American Idol wannabe."

GigaOm's Om Malik, however, christens Ping "the future of ecommerce," explaining that it "may function like a cross between Facebook and Twitter for iTunes by allowing you to follow celebrities, create social cliques and get artist updates via an activity stream ... I think it could have tremendous impact on social sharing and commerce."

BoomTown's Kara Swisher thinks Ping "looks an awful lot like the experience you get on Facebook," and notes the complete absence of any Facebook connection -- a rarity for any publisher today.

Asked about the conspicuous absence, Apple head Steve Jobs told Swisher that Facebook wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to." Classic Jobs.

Connected or not, CNet suggests that Ping spells trouble for the broader social industry. "Where Facebook and Twitter exist to be everything to everyone, in the hope that everyone finds the right someone to follow, to befriend or to ignore, Ping focuses on a conversation we have all had: at a bar, at a concert, even at a wake," it explains. "It starts with some version of a very simple question: what music do you like? It's a far safer question than 'What people do you like?'"

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