Beating a Path

Today sees the launch of Path - The Personal Network. Practically all of us carry a camera phone, and our photos tell the stories of our lives. Starting today, Path is being billed as the place you will always feel comfortable being yourself and sharing the story of your life with your closest friends and family via the photos you take every day with your mobile device.

Launching today on the App Store on iPhone. If you do not have an iPhone, you can still register and check out Path through your browser.

So, what is Path?

Path is the personal network. A place to be yourself and share life with close friends and family. The personal network doesn’t replace your existing social networks – it augments them.

Path allows you to capture your life’s most personal moments and share them with the 50 close friends and family in your life who matter most.

Because your personal network is limited to your 50 closest friends and family, you can always trust that you can post any moment, no matter how personal. Path is a place where you can be yourself.

So does a picture paint a thousand words?
Capturing a moment on Path is simple and contextual. Simply take a photo with your camera on iPhone or iPod Touch and add context around that moment in the form of tags for people, places and things. These tags provide 3 types of context to help capture a moment.

Sharing

No more embarrassing Oooops moments! On Path, you can control who you are sharing your personal moments with. (So let's hope your real friends don't end up posting your memories to their 570 Facebook pals!)

So why only 50?
Path claim "50 based on the research of Oxford Professor of Evolutionary Psychology Robin Dunbar, who has long suggested that 150 is the maximum number of social relationships that the human brain can sustain at any given time. Dunbar’s research also shows that personal relationships tend to expand in factors of roughly 3. So while we may have 5 people whom we consider to be our closest friends, and 20 whom we maintain regular contact with, 50 is roughly the outer boundary of our personal networks. These are the people we trust, whom we are building trust with, and whom we consider to be the most important and valued people in our lives."

Seeing is believing...

Path is available from the App Store on iPhone or in the App Store now.

We'll give it a whirl and let you know how we get on.

Path