I saw a headline yesterday that caught my attention..." Apple launches social music network Ping". I had to read because I was thinking that I misunderstood. Considering my terribly expensive golf habit, I was thinking the well established Ping golf clubs/putters that happens to be based here in the Phoenix area.
But after reading, Apple did truly launch "Ping". Conceptually, a music oriented social network really is a great idea (and still slightly innovative several years into the social networking boom). But come on Apple....Ping??!! With such an incredibly creative company, that's the best name you could come up with? Not only is it non-descriptive, uh hello, that name is already taken by the well established Ping golf club brand and by Microsoft by changing the P to a B.
This headline triggered a recurring thought in my mind about some of the dumbest social media and search names I have heard over the years. Way back in the day, I remember saying "Gooo-gul? What is that? At least its a name that you would recognize if you heard it again." Google got away with a kitchy name because they were the first and it was memorable. Please please everyone else, stop naming your products and websites with dumb names. It is NOT a requirement to copy Google and have a double letter name or drop a vowel to be memorable, be a social media hipster, and get lots of VC funding.
This means you Flickr, Squidoo, Tumblr, Digg, Reddit, Sphinn, and numerous others. While I am at it, bit.ly, delicious, and orkut too.
