There is a new player in the social networking game that we have all found ourselves participating in these days. Path.com has introduced a way for users to slim down their friends list and become more personable with the people they truly connect with on a daily basis. The site offers a new and different take on social networking than anything we have seen before.
Path has been developed as a way to share and connect with your friends solely with mobile phones. Path.com will limit a user’s friends list to only 50 people. The theory here is that we have let our Facebook and Twitter accounts get out of control, and cannot realistically manage the amount of “friends” we have acquired. This is based on a study out of Oxford University that shows the human brain is only capable of handling 150 relationships at a time.
The new website was launched on Monday of this week. Path.com can be accessed by anyone on the web, but not everyone can use all or any of its features just yet. If you have an Apple iPhone you can find a Path App in the Apple App store, free of charge to users. No iPhone? You can still sign up and make an account on the web, but that is pretty much as far as you can go. You can add a profile picture, but you will have to wait to connect with friends until there is an app compatible with your phone model.
This new social media site is based on the concept that most people carry around a camera phone, snapping pictures of everyday life. It is through this medium that people will be able to share these daily moments with their 50 closest friends and family members. Sharing photos, tagging friends, and sending messages to loved ones are obviously not new networking ideas. It is the limitation of this new service that makes it exclusive to its rivals.
Although this new social networking concept is unique, the question is, will users warm up to having a restriction on their friends list. Another question is how long will it take for users of multiple mobile platforms to be able to participate. One user who is ready and willing to “Path” is TV and Movie Actor Ashton Kutcher who is one of the primary investors in the new site. Path initially looks to be an alternative to Twitter or Facebook, but definitely not a replacement. Time will tell what Path we will take.
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