January 24, 2012
In the burgeoning world of social media platforms, there isn’t a lot of quiet serendipity left. But at path.com you can find a journaling app for iOS or Android platforms that is both beautifully designed and functional.
Path is described by it’s creators as “the smart journal that helps share like with the ones you love”, and its interface is stripped down compared to facebook. But what it loses in bells and whistles it most certainly makes it up in elegance and simplicity. At one touch you can post a photo or video, your current location, a standard text status update, the music you are currently listening to, or whether you are asleep or awake.
As you add entries, the application builds your “path” and floats a time-stamp above the entries in the stream. It also includes 42 gorgeous photos for use as wallpapers.
All around it is in many ways what facebook could have been, but has evolved away from. I can’t be the only person that feels that facebook has occasionally become the teeming crowded virtual town square that just may be too frantic and noisy to find solace in.
Unfortunately though, Path is suffering from the challenge that all new social media platforms must contend with; the lights may be on, but nobody is at home yet. What’s the point of journaling for friends and family if they aren’t on? The app does however have tools to search across your contacts and both look for users you know as well as invite contacts to join up.
Here is a review of the updated version of the app from Wired that gives a good overview of the app.
So, while I wont be leaving facebook anytime soon, I urge you to go take a look for yourself and just maybe Path might be the social media solution for you.