Another problem that is likely to contribute to spam is that it is quite easy to create bogus accounts for the Ping service because no credit card or other positive identification is required to participate.

FORBES: Apple's Ping Plagued By Spammers

Apple said Friday it has signed up more than one million users for the Ping music discovery service the company launched Wednesday.

FORBES: Apple Says Ping Has More Than One Million Users

And some iTunes initiatives, like a Ping social networking service, flopped.

WSJ: Eddy Cue: Apple's Rising Mr. Fix-It

To grow music sales, Apple launched Ping, a social music service that also failed and recently shut down, causing Apple to retrench to its original iTunes offering.

FORBES: Take A Lesson from Apple: A Strategy to Keep Customers in Your Ecosystem

Having re-Christened it iTunes Ping, or just Ping, Apple now says the service has more than one million users who can view what music their friends are playing or streaming, and can create profiles for themselves.

FORBES: Is The Future Of TV In Social Networking?

These systems are supposed to allow consumers to review health plans online (or in person and by mail and fax), pick one and then ping HHS and the Internal Revenue Service to determine who is eligible for what subsidies.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: Hope and Exchange

Supposedly some six thousand users have already been in on beta testing (what, none of you thought to ping your old pals at Engadget?) this service, aptly codenamed the Venice Project probably after the community of streams.

ENGADGET: Skype founders to launch P2P IPTV for millions of people?