itunes-10-pingAfter months of rumours and speculation leading up to Apple’s fall media event, CEO Steve Jobs finally revealed all on Wednesday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The new iTunes 10 social media feature sparked the interest of search marketing agencies and gadget-lovers alike.

iTunes 10 was launched at yesterday’s media event alongside updated iPods and a revision of Apple TV. While an iTunes update was expected, the iTunes 10 social media capability came as a pleasant surprise. This feature is called Ping, and has been described by Steve Jobs as “Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes”.

Ping is a tool that will allow iTunes 10 users to compile and share playlists with others in their Ping network. Users will be able to create their own iTunes 10 Ping profile, track friends’ downloads, post comments and follow their favourite artists using this iTunes 10 feature.

“Pingers” will be able to follow a stream of updates and information from others in their network – the same format used by Twitter and Facebook. iTunes 10 Ping is now available to the 160 million users eager to try it out, and will also be available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The latest iTunes logo no longer features the CD image, demonstrating Apple’s shifting focus to social media with the release of iTunes 10 and Ping. This seems perfectly appropriate considering iTunes sales are on the brink of surpassing CD sales for the first time in history! Apple’s social media music venture is sure to be a big hit.

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