Path has more than 10 million users, and the private social market is expanding

On the morning of April 30th, Beijing time, Dave Morin, co-founder and CEO of the private social application Path, announced that the number of Path users has exceeded 10 million. Path achieved good revenue results after the release of version 3.0, and was the first batch of built-in Google Glass. Now the number of users exceeds 10 million. Path is developing well, the market for private social networking is gradually expanding, and the concept is becoming more and more popular.

Path was founded more than two years ago. Although it has a good reputation in the niche, the number of users has not achieved a big breakthrough. In recent months, the number of Path users has been steadily increasing, especially on March 7, when Path was updated to version 3.0, adding the function of private messaging between users and bringing a large number of stickers and emoticons. On the one hand, it attracted new users, and on the other hand, it was the beginning of commercial exploration. Two days later, there was news that the revenue generated by the 3.0 version of the Path application within 24 hours of its launch had exceeded the total revenue since its birth two years ago. Path attracted a lot of attention for a while, and the number of users has grown rapidly since then.

Although many people think that the private social networking represented by Path is not a strong demand, after domestic mobile Internet users take a photo with their smartphones, there are at least a dozen mature platforms to publish and share it. Weibo, WeChat, Papapa, Renren, Tuding, and even Path itself has many direct "disciples" in China. Where is the market for Path? In foreign countries, especially in the United States, Facebook has become synonymous with social networking.

However, Path was created to fill a need left by Facebook. Path CEO Dave Morin once said in an interview that when he left Facebook, one need motivated him to develop Path, which was knowing clearly that he would not use Facebook to contact family members such as his fiancé, mother, or sister. Communication on Facebook is limited to a certain level of relationship, but it is rarely private. Therefore, developing a social network that allows private relationships such as family members to communicate is the reason for the birth of Path, and there is currently a large space in this field.

“Facebook describes itself as a newspaper, just like every small town has its own newspaper, its own home. Since we started Path, we have considered Path to be your home.”

In fact, according to recent media reports, data shows that Facebook's appeal is gradually declining, and it is losing millions of users every month. Users turn to other emerging social networks to find more interesting social methods and content. For example, Facebook lost 6 million users in the United States in March, and this situation is not unique or accidental. According to data provided by social media analysis agency SocialBakers, in the past six months, Facebook has lost an average of about 9 million visitors per month, and this trend has appeared in many regions such as North America and Europe.

On the contrary, Path not only has a growing number of users, but Dave Morin has also revealed that Path's product form makes users very active and sticky. Users open the Path app multiple times a day, and the proportion of Path's monthly logged-in users and active users has reached 50%.

In order to focus more on private social networking and expand its influence, Path is even one of the first applications that can run on Google Glass. In Dave Morin's view, Google Glass makes interaction faster and more private, which is in line with Path's product temperament and needs.

Nowadays, smartphones are becoming more and more popular. In many places, everyone is staring at their phones, and even on the streets, many people are looking down at their phones. If Path is integrated with Google Glass, the information, photos and timeline of Path can be integrated into Google Glass. It is much easier to reply to Path information with voice, browse the entire Path timeline with the Google Glass interface, and take and share photos. Google Glass encourages users to post more information on Path, and this information is more personal than before.

As users flee from traditional social networks, people pay more and more attention to privacy, and Google Glass becomes more popular, all of these will drive the development of Path, and private social networking will become more and more accepted.