My inquiries go mostly unheard inside a particular app to which I give much praise. I have a (first world) problem that I would like to fix — how to make my favorite social app Path known among the masses. If you haven't heard of it, cool; its bubbling under status is completely understandable. Path is the anti-Facebook to a degree, the idea being you only friend people you actually know (and they likely know everyone else on your list). Then, naturally, you share things like updates and photos within that tight knit circle. Cool concept, huh?
CNET reported Path has seen over three million installs of the app, but only half of that install base are active. The article reports growth in China is number two behind the U.S, largely thanks to the exploding mobile market there. Seeing Facebook is now accessed more through mobile than traditional desktops, it's completely justified for Path to be mobile only and is quite progressive at that. In fact,CNET also called out Facebook's potential undoing by the hands of a mobile-born "killer." Is Path that assassin? I say possibly.
With three million installs, Captain Obvious says there's plenty of room for growth, which means there's plenty of room for you and yours to join up. Chances are, really, you have become bored of the routine and drab blues that is Facebook. Perhaps you've been burned in the past by privacy woes, relationship drama and the like, so why not give Path a chance? Here are three reasons to make the switch.
1) It's personal.
It's so personal, you don't have a profile — wait, what? People on your Path really
know you, so there's no need to fill out your life story, who your significant other is, or what things you're into; they already know. You're not adding people you met on Match, POF or grindr who don't know the real you, much less who haven't met you in person — that would defeat the purpose of Path.
2) It's limited.
150 friends — can you handle that? This limit is based on something called Dunbar's number, which Wikipedia describes as anthropologist Robin Dunbar's suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. This means, with Path, you will actually know who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. There is no friend request whoring, impersonal networking, brand pages from multi-nationals attempting to feign hometown reliability, and there's zero iPhone scams/contests. Your data is also used in a limited capacity. On Facebook, your profile stealthily profiles you instead with "relevant" ads, whereas on Path there are zero ads (fun fact: In Soviet Russia, Facebook profiles you!). That was a joke. Moving on.
3) It's not complicated to keep it private.
Privacy is streamlined and built in thoughtfully into the status update process. It's a stark contrast to Facebook where privacy controls were built re-actively after much ballyhooing. With Path, you can even share to your feeds on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare if you so desire. Nice.
Hopefully a year from now Path will be well known, but such can't be without your involvement. Start a Path today by downloading the app for iOS and Android today. ¡Viva la Revolución!
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