Editor’s note: I’m excited to welcome Chelsea Orcutt to the Van Patten Media blog! Chelsea is going to be contributing occasional blog posts about cool things happening in tech, design, and other related fields. You can learn more about Chelsea in her bio after the post below. Thanks! — Chris
Path has been regarded as the cleaner, prettier, but surprisingly less popular cousin of Facebook.
It’s a social network with an intuitive, beautifully designed mobile app. Path boasts the ability to learn more about you as you use it, and act as a personal journal of your life. It’s intimate, and allows you to share with up to 150 people.
Wait a minute. Only 150 people? But what about the hundreds of people you went to high school with? Don’t you want to connect with all of them to see what they’re up to?
The truth is, most people don’t. The beauty of Path lies in its simplicity and exclusivity. But is it too exclusive? A problem many users encounter is that too few of their friends are active on Path to make the experience truly social.
According to a recent TechCrunch article, Path has over 3 million app installations, which is certainly nothing to scoff at. However, much of the user base can still be classified as “early adopters,” despite the fact that Path launched in November 2010.
Word is spreading quickly about Path, and its reported rapid growth in recent weeks. And with the release of Version 2.5 in late July, the added press coverage has no doubt resulted in even more users. The updated version includes larger photos and videos, an improved camera, and now allows users to share their current books and movies, in addition to the existing music-sharing capability.
The new “nudge” feature is arguably the most intriguing. (It’s a bit reminiscent of the Facebook poke.) Users now have the ability to nudge their friends who haven’t posted to Path in a while.
Sure, it’s a great way for users to keep in touch with their personal networks. But it’s also a clever way for Path to leverage its most active users and encourage them to engage (or reengage, as the case may be) their friends and maintain their interest in the app.
Are you using Path? What are your thoughts on Version 2.5, or the direction the app is headed? Feel free to share in the comments!