With the advent of social media, it is increasingly easier to share your life with a greater range of people. From pictures, to locations, to updates - everything you do and think can be easily communicated to the masses with a few clicks and keystrokes. Your custom Flash website is a great way to communicate with the world and can provide an excellent outlet for you to expand your social network. Many would posit that the larger your network, the greater your influence and ability to impact others.
Alternatively, some researchers are suggesting that it is almost impossible to appropriately maintain more than a few dozen relationships at one time. Narrowing down the number of people you share your life with helps you maintain your privacy while ensuring that what you share is treated with the utmost respect. With all the social media venues available, one of the newest, known as Path, is definitely one to look into. It offers a balanced opportunity to expand your social footprint online while keeping your circle of friends and followers small and intimate.
Your World, Connected
There are thousands of social networking sites available that cater to a wide range of users and interests. Trying to keep up with all of the social networking sites can be a challenge, but they all tend to allow users to share images, locations, and text with your friends. Path is no different in its abilities, but its approach is what sets it apart in a unique and different way from most other social networking sites. Rather than leveraging your life for business or marketing purposes, Path provides context for your life by categorizing your posts as people, places, or things. How is this different from any other social networking site? Path wants to make sure your audience remains as close, personal, and trusted as possible. This security benefits you by giving you the knowledge that those visiting your Flash website and getting to know your through your social media networking avenues will be the type of people you are comfortable being linked to. Ina world where you are often defined by your friends and associates, it is more important than ever that you are represented in the best light possible.
Keep it Close
Many people are intimidated by the prospect of large groups of people knowing what you are doing, or seeing photos of your personal life; the creators of Path understand these concerns and have taken steps to set up safeguards and features that fight against such experiences. Path limits your friends and followers to a maximum of fifty people to ensure that you don’t have to worry about what you post becoming part of the mass media flow. Based on the research of an Oxford psychologist, Path stands firmly in its belief and practice of limiting the maximum number of friends to fifty. The research suggests that the maximum number of relationships that can be maintained is one hundred and fifty. Path is promoted as “ . . . a place where you can be yourself . . . .” and they do this by ensuring that only the most important and trusted people have access to what you’re sharing. As a Path account holder, you can feel free to share everything with the confidence that your hand-selected network will cherish every photo and comment.
Business versus Pleasure
Path is referred to as a “personal network” by its creators, and it holds true to that title by ensuring that you can easily and effectively communicate with your closest friends and family. Although some users have criticized the lack of a feature set, Path’s creators and developers are committed to only implementing features that truly help you stay connected. Although Path is only currently available for the iPhone and most web browsers, they are developing new ways to make sure that you and your network can share in trust and understanding. By centering its user experience around exclusivity, you and your group can share with unrestricted candor. As you create your own website, it is important to make use of networking opportunities that can boost your site traffic; Path offers a great blend of personal information and social connections at the added benefit of being able to generate a trusted network of friends that will boost your overall web visibility and impact.
