![]() And that, in turn, creates memories that are arguably more valuable than the random thoughts and drunken photos shared on Facebook. To go along with a separate, personal network, you end up sharing the most important parts of your life. “We found it strange that modern social networking had helped our social lives and our professional lives immensely, but hadn't changed what means the most to us: how we connect with our loved ones,” say the cofounders of FamilyLeaf. And Familiar lets you send photos automatically to your grandparents’ desktop wallpaper, turning their computer into a digital photo frame. ![]() The purpose of video messaging on Kincast, for example, is to make loved ones feel special. So your posts and comments go further to building a real connection. On small social networks, you know your audience: a handful of close friends or family who actually care about the details of your life. You can’t tailor the message to a particular context – like that of a childhood friend, or a coworker – so it either ends up generic or ill-suited to half of your friends list. When you’re broadcasting a status to 1,000 friends, you might as well be talking to no one. ![]() Google+ circles serve a similar purpose, with similar shortcomings. “And we know some of our older users are skeptical about what they perceive as the ‘share everything’ culture of social media.” They don’t want to give up control over that content,” says Familiar CEO Marcus Womack. “ view moments involving their close families as intimate and personal. But creating custom groups takes time, and it’s easy to forget to make those few clicks – blasting out the intimate hospital photos of your newborn child into the big, bad world. Now, a few clicks will let you decide whether the post is shared with the public, your friends, no one, or a custom group. Parents are sharing baby photos, and even creating Facebook pages for their children.įacebook has tried to remedy this by making the privacy of your posts more transparent. Now that Facebook has apps, you might be broadcasting everything from your location to your reading habits to what you’re making for dinner. Smaller social networks are becoming more in vogue as we realize all the stuff that we’re sharing on Facebook with one-time acquaintances. “Everyone can relax and be themselves,” declares JustFamily, another social network for families. “It's just easier to be yourself on the smaller social networks,” says Mujica. And your loved ones can respond more authentically: not just with a “like,” but with a smile, frown, gasp, laugh, or love. “Path should help you authentically express yourself and share your personal life with loved ones,” they say (emphasis added). And Path hopes they are genuine – presumably, compared to Facebook posts that might be tweaked and crafted to impress our followers. That number is based on research by Oxford University professor Robin Dunbar according to Path, we tend to have “5 best friends, 15 good friends, 50 close friends and family, and 150 total friends.”įive million users are now sharing their photos, videos, check-ins, and thoughts on Path. How many times do you scroll through your Facebook newsfeed and go, ‘eh?' I bet it happens a lot, and that creates demand for more relevant and smaller social networks,” says Raul Mujica, cofounder of Kincast.Ĭhief among the family-oriented startups is Path, a social network that limits you to 150 friends. “There's definitely a trend toward richer and more fulfilling social experiences. Even MyHeritage, an established family tree builder, has added photo and video sharing and has seen 166 million photos uploaded. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Symptoms include a sudden outburst of “What the heck am I doing?” after you’ve wasted 15 minutes reading about your ex-girlfriend’s brother’s latest trip to the gym.Ī wave of apps are offering cures for this condition, in the form of social experiences for family and close friends. Someday, maybe, doctors will study a condition called Facebook fatigue.
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