What’s the value of a relationship anyway?
Facebook is great. It’s powerful. It’s connecting. I’ve been a user for about 7 years but now I rarely log in. Why? Well, at some level, all social networks turn into a popularity contest. About 70% of my friends on Facebook I no longer talk to or see. At one point I was in a relationship with them, but not today. You can now curate your relationships but who has time to do that? And what’s the point? The number of friends and information is growing faster than I can consume it. When breadth exceeds depth you lose value. The more friends I have on Facebook and the more shallow those relationships grow, the less I value Facebook as a relational tool. A large amount of shallow relationships are like fast food. They’re cheap, accessible, and you consume it quickly. Now please note that this doesn’t have to be. How would the dynamic of my Facebook change if I only had 50 friends?
That’s where Path came in. My cohort in crime @whale turned me onto Path about a year ago. Path allowed you to share photos with 50 of your closest friends. But why did I need another photo sharing app? I used Instagram and loved it. Well, what I quickly learned was that Path was different. There were constraints. Originally you couldn’t even comment but just leave an emiticon to symbolize how that photo moved you. They removed the temptation for popularity by limiting your number of followers to 50. So you had to be choosy in who makes it into your path. I’m in a real relationship with everyone on my path. And because I’m only viewing a limited number of photos a day I can spend time really looking at their photos. I mean, really looking! Who has had an experience of true digestion on the internet? The internet is notorious for quick massive consumption.
Path just released their latest upate, Path 2.0. And the interface is pretty dang gorgeous. I’m going to spend a lot of time studying it. But it’s now a full social networking platform. Positioned to take on Facebook. And I think they can do it.
But I believe we’re on the wrong side of the pendulum swing. Just like people are now desiring to buy local handmade foods and goods from the people around them, people are going to start desiring depth to their relationships over breadth. Choice isn’t always an advantage. Your father and mother are more important than your friends not just because they raised you. But because you only have one of them. No matter their parenting skills.
Relationships are as important to being a human as walking upright. We speak language so we can relate to each other. Human touch is vital to a child’s development. Marriage has been an important part of every culture since the beginning of time. If we really open up, there is no limit to the depth of a relationship. No matter how long you know someone.
So what’s my point? Constraints create depth and value even in relationships. And that’s what Path was. But now the constraints have changed and it’s lost some of the value I originally gave it. I’m a little bummed. But I guess I need to take my own advice, get off my computer, and be in relationship with someone over lunch.
That’s where Path came in. My cohort in crime @whale turned me onto Path about a year ago. Path allowed you to share photos with 50 of your closest friends. But why did I need another photo sharing app? I used Instagram and loved it. Well, what I quickly learned was that Path was different. There were constraints. Originally you couldn’t even comment but just leave an emiticon to symbolize how that photo moved you. They removed the temptation for popularity by limiting your number of followers to 50. So you had to be choosy in who makes it into your path. I’m in a real relationship with everyone on my path. And because I’m only viewing a limited number of photos a day I can spend time really looking at their photos. I mean, really looking! Who has had an experience of true digestion on the internet? The internet is notorious for quick massive consumption.
Path just released their latest upate, Path 2.0. And the interface is pretty dang gorgeous. I’m going to spend a lot of time studying it. But it’s now a full social networking platform. Positioned to take on Facebook. And I think they can do it.
But I believe we’re on the wrong side of the pendulum swing. Just like people are now desiring to buy local handmade foods and goods from the people around them, people are going to start desiring depth to their relationships over breadth. Choice isn’t always an advantage. Your father and mother are more important than your friends not just because they raised you. But because you only have one of them. No matter their parenting skills.
Relationships are as important to being a human as walking upright. We speak language so we can relate to each other. Human touch is vital to a child’s development. Marriage has been an important part of every culture since the beginning of time. If we really open up, there is no limit to the depth of a relationship. No matter how long you know someone.
So what’s my point? Constraints create depth and value even in relationships. And that’s what Path was. But now the constraints have changed and it’s lost some of the value I originally gave it. I’m a little bummed. But I guess I need to take my own advice, get off my computer, and be in relationship with someone over lunch.
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