Path limits users to 50 friends. The photo-centric service, built for smart phones, is designed to help users share information only with people they trust. It was launched November 2010. Evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar has a famous theory that the number of people with whom one can maintain a close relationship is limited to 150 by the size of the neocortex, the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language. The Internet has made it quicker and easier to connect with far-flung acquaintances, but Dunbar says it's impossible to overcome that basic brain programming. With high rollers on Facebook boasting up to 5,000 "friends," digital friendship has become increasingly indiscriminate. And that keeps some people from feeling comfortable sharing the more intimate details of their lives. That's the motivation behind Path, a San Francisco company that is offering a more exclusive social network. Path bills itself instead as a "personal network."Dave Morin, formerly an executive at Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc., and Shawn Fanning, co-founder of Napster, are betting that people crave more private interaction with a much smaller social circle: Path lets each user designate only 50 friends. Morin estimates that, based on Dunbar's research, 50 is "roughly the outer boundary of our personal networks."
No comments:
Post a Comment