In memoriam
Path
Born November 2010. Died 18 October 2018.
Path passed on 18 October 2018, having lived eight years as the social network that promised to stay small. Born in November 2010, it limited users to fifty friends. The idea was intimacy. At its peak it claimed fifty million users and a valuation of five hundred million. The limit was raised to one hundred fifty. Facebook had billions. Path was acquired by a South Korean company. In September 2018 the shutdown was announced. Users had until 18 October to download their data. The app was removed from stores on 1 October. On 18 October the servers went dark. He is survived by every platform that learned that small was a feature, and by the memory of a time when a social network could still refuse to grow.
Path will be shutting down. Please download your data before October 18.
Failed to achieve product-market fit
Mourned by Those who wanted a social network with fifty friends, designers who admired its interface, and anyone who believed that smaller could mean better.
The 150-friend limit, which was raised when fifty proved too small; Kakao, which acquired the company and shut it down; and the memory of fifty million users who tried something different.