>I’m really unsure why Path are trying to create a whole new network, when there’s so many great networks out there already.<p>Bigger potential upside?<p>Their features are in the core focus of Facebook, so building on Facebook could be tricky, strategically.<p>This quotation from Dune always comes to mind, thinking about platforms: 'The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it.'<p>If they depend on a platform with which they are in competition, their product won't be nearly as valuable as it will be <i>if</i> they succeed in building a new network.<p>Maybe they'd be more likely to get traction, trying to build a complimentary product on an existing network, but owning the network is very valuable in the long run.
First of all, I think the Path team did a great job with the recent changes and ads.<p>However, scaling a platform like Path is always a trade-off. And in a certain way, that's also similar to what Posterous is facing the next months.<p>You make it super attractive through channeling different opportunities in one platform or you make it superfluous as it serves as an coexistence to Facebook, g+ or instagram etc. If you manage to maintain traffic: Great. If not: You remain in history as a great platform that already existed. A great city with great attractions but no one living there.<p>Not to forget that the cross-service or let´s sets holistic-platform approach prepares good opportunities for an exit as you can basically transfer a lot of that information to other platforms. That´s worth something.
This touches on what I see as a pretty big deal for social networks going forward, although Path is probably not the right app to solve the problem. We have been throwing all this data about ourselves into all these different apps for as long as 6-7 years now (much more intensively over the last 2 though), but don't have a meaningful way to browse through it, or even find anything in it. Timeline is another major step in this direction, but as of now still has a way to go.
Everyone's talking about what these networks our doing with our data, but what are WE doing with our own data?
I keep coming back to Google's Parisian Love commercial, if only we could have our own online history presented the same way: <a href="http://youtu.be/nnsSUqgkDwU" rel="nofollow">http://youtu.be/nnsSUqgkDwU</a>
I think the journal element is the right track for them. I've found Path more interesting without the social element. When I was alone in path, I could mark and post things with no regard for anyone else's opinion. Since I've added friends, it began to look more like Facebook, and substantially less interesting. I think Path is a great journal, but like a journal best made only with yourself.<p>It's the beauty of the app that much of the joy springs from. I made a short relevant post on that on my blog <a href="http://mchrishawkins.tumblr.com/" rel="nofollow">http://mchrishawkins.tumblr.com/</a>.
Site appears to be down, and Google doesn't have it cached. Anyone have a copy? Also, the title implies that I should know what Path (V2) is; can anyone explain or link to that?