Ping
A social network where your only friend was Apple.
CAUSE OF DEATH: Failed to gain much traction with users. Apple closed it after two years.
Steve Jobs introduced Ping on September 1, 2010 as "sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes," then clarified that it was not Facebook and not Twitter. He was right on both counts. It was a social network that lived inside iTunes, where nobody has ever wanted to linger. Facebook integration was removed. Spam flooded in. The musician Ben Folds reported an account in his name that he had not created. Apple cut a deal with a golf equipment maker to use the word "Ping." It claimed 1 million members in 48 hours and closed on September 30, 2012. Apple replaced it with Facebook and Twitter. The two things it was not.