The best app I downloaded this year was not Rdio. It wasn’t Instagram, Tweetbot, Foursquare or Messenger. All of those apps I use on a daily basis and are prominently displayed on my iPhone’s home screen. It also wasn’t Zaarly, Flipboard, Soundtracking or Hipstamatic Disposable (which I wrote about). Those are all pretty great apps too.
I thought about declaring Jetpack Joyride the best app I downloaded this year, as it was the only game I played throughout the summer. However, it is the best game I downloaded this year.
No, the best app I downloaded this year is one that a very few people are using and one that doesn’t get as much attention as others (like Instagram). It’s an app that’s been around for over a year but recently launched version 2.0.
It’s Path.
Path isn’t revolutionary or even evolutionary. In reality, and in all honesty, it is devolutionary. And that’s what makes it great.
Path doesn’t do anything different than Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Soundtracking and others. You can post photos, let friends know where you are, tell them what song you’re currently playing on repeat and post random thoughts. Nothing special, right?
So, why should anyone sign up or care about yet another social network?
Twitter is great at what it does. You can connect to celebrities, brands, friends and news outlets. It allows me to learn new things, stay more up-to-date than most of the people I know and post the ridiculous links and pictures I find. The problem is it can become overwhelming. If I don’t check Twitter for more than an hour or more, I miss hundreds of tweets and retweets. I’m only following 300 or so people. Granted, a lot of those people are tech industry folks who are on Twitter all day, but more often than not I just give up on catching up, however much I feel like I’ll be missing out on something. When the news broke Sunday evening that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had died, more than 30 tweets had clogged my feed within two minutes. The posts, retweets and jokes continue to come in, 24 hours after the first breaking tweet.
It was all the same news. Not a single one was from one of my actual friends.
Facebook is also great at what it does. It’s also pretty much mandatory (even though the recent trend is to never sign up for Facebook or deactivate). Facebook Messages are a better alternative to email, Chat is the new AIM and Events are better than any evite. I won’t go too much in to Facebook because we know what it does well and complain about what it doesn’t do well. The few things I will say though is, because Facebook was the first one (still relevant) on the block, the way we use it has changed. The updates my friends and I post has evolved (and so has Facebook’s Status Bar). Remember when it asked, “What are you doing?” or when all updates began, “Will Longhini is…?” Twitter eventually became popular and those who posted too often were told “This isn’t Twitter. Stop posting!” And so we did.
This is where Path comes in.
The fundamental difference between all the other social apps and Path, besides how wonderful the app is designed and looks, is how limited it is.
Path isn’t limited in its features. As I described earlier, it combines just about the best of all the other social networks out there and does them well. I have 315 “friends” on Facebook and just over 300 followers and people I follow on Twitter. Path limits your network to only 150 people. That isn’t a bad thing.
Path describes itself as “The smart journal that helps you share life with the ones you love.”
With a 150 person cap, the idea is a Path user will be more reluctant to share everything and anything. Besides sharing intimate photos and thoughts, there’s even an option to let your friends know you’re going to sleep or that you’re awake. It’s not an example when you go into “Thought,” it’s a separate option.
150 people doesn’t seem like a lot, especially compared to the hundreds of friends and followers people have on both Facebook and Twitter, but I only have two actual, real-life friends currently using Path.
It’s a frustrating problem I run into all the time. I am genuinely interested in the way technology and gadgets can shape the world we live in, how we consume our surroundings and how we stay connected to one another.
The problem is, most of my friends are happy and content with the usual suspects of Facebook and Twitter. That’s fine, but there is much more out there. It’s amazing that Instagram (Path has filters too!) and Foursquare (Path has check-ins and “With” mentions) have taken off like they have with my friends. I suspect Hipstamatic Disposable will not and I hope Path doesn’t share that same fate.
Download Path now from the App Store or Android Market and find out what my favorite smelling spice is.
Path - Introducing Path 2 from Path on Vimeo.
