How many facebook friends would I have if I unfriended all the people I haven’t spoken to in years or wouldn’t recognize on the street? Perhaps it would be around the number 150. This is Dunbar’s Number – the theory that there is a cognitive limit to the number of stable relationships we can maintain. From the studies on evolutionary anthropology comes the inspiration behind the The Path, a social service app for iPhone that sets your social circle at the intimate number of 50.
The service aims to create a space that enables the sharing and making of memories as opposed to broadcasting. Path users communicate mainly with their inner circle by means of photo sharing. Snap a picture to be shared in a scrollthrough feed, but only with those with whom we trust enough to see the world from our eyes.
A refreshing idea in a sea of networking and self-promotion. It does raise some interesting notions regarding the meaning of networks and how we use them. Will people let go of the novelty and ego flaunting of having 1,978 friends to intimately share moments with a select few? Chances are those people still only have an inner circle that they regularly talk to and Dunbar and The Path know this. And we must know this on a certain level - I set boundaries on what filters through Facebook but with a more trusted network, sharing can be more personal. If only I had an iPhone.