Social Media: Pain and Possibility

A bit off topic I guess but I have’t got anything else to say at the moment, well not until I go out for a walk at the end of the week.

There’s a growing debate (noise wise) about the various social media offerings. Most of the flak seems to being thrown at Facebook and I must admit I share a lot of the criticisms.

Facebook’s ridiculous floatation price means that it now has to aim to moneterize its customers in the most dramatic way. For me Facebook has lost most of its original charm and I’m tempted to throw it out all together but, of course, there are people using it who I like to follow, relatives, very old friends and so on, who don’t use anything else.

Twitter operates differently and doesn’t hit you in quite the same way yet. It is a much better way of following people you don’t actually know. This will probably all change as Twitter forces more and more of us to use their own web interface rather than third party Twitter clients (which are slowly being squeezed out of the game). Of course, the reason Twitter wants us all on the web is so we can read their advertising!

Google are commercial as well but they seem to be a little more subtle about it. When Google + launched I really couldn’t see the merit in it although I’m beginning to realise that the biggest thing going for it is that it isn’t Facebook. Google + gives you a little more control over who you talk to, how and when.

Of the big players Apple has decided against becoming a direct player at the moment, although rumours persist about it buying Twitter or Foursquare. Apple have decided to integrate Facebook and Twitter into its own OS and this is driving me barmy. My desktop is constantly clogged up with messages telling me about birthdays I really don’t car about. Yes, I can switch these off but I seem to be having to do this constantly!

Facebook survives on my ‘system’ because it is the only platform that some people I know use but I suspect that I shall be logging on less and less frequently. If you want to contact me don’t rely on Facebook!

There is a great alternative to all of these systems and which is even less obtrusive than Google +, the problem is that this alternative does not seem to have caught on in the UK.

I am talking about the Social Media service Path. Path is pretty popular in the USA and is many people’s preferred network — Path now has over 5 million users. Path has two things going for it. Firstly, like Google + you have much more control over who you interact with — you discussions do not have to be open to the rest of the world. However, of you want a Path post to appear on one of the other major networks you have the option to forward it on. Secondly, Path rejects advertising! It makes its money through iPhone and Android Apps — there is a small charge for these, they are not given away free!

Path connects very cleverly to both Twitter and Facebook. It can import my friends and connections and then will inform me if any of these join Path at some point. I can also send an invitation to contacts to join me on Path but I use this kind of function very sparingly.

Have a look at the reviews of Path on iTunes and on the Google Store and you will see that lots of people love it …

… except hardly anyone I know is using it!

If you have a look at Path — the web account is free — look me up — Andy Howell, Birmingham.

Path