Twitter adds Ping functionality to user pages

Earlier today, Twitter announced that it has integrated Apple's Ping into users' home pages. Now, Twitter users can view each others' Ping activity, listen to song previews and link to/purchase music from iTunes directly from tweets posted to Twitter.com.

Here's how it works: First, log into your Ping account and click the new "Connect to Twitter" button. A window pops up requesting your Twitter credentials. You'll receive a confirmation and a list of Twitter contacts who have also enabled Ping sharing. Then you're done! The new Ping information will show up at Twitter.com for you.

Apple introduced PIng a few months ago, and has struggled a bit during its initial growth period. Steve Jobs recently met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to discuss Apple's fledgling social network. That meeting was well-publicized, but we didn't know this Twitter collaboration was coming.

Good luck to both companies on this joint venture. Now you can tweet your ping. Or is it ping your tweet? We're so confused.