Category Archives: Path

Path, Twitter Cards and Instagram, and Facebook apps

I am cramming three topics into this quick blog.  I wanted to write about all three but didn’t want to spam out three posts back to back.  And, as it goes in the social media world – If I waited a week to post one of these it might not be relevant any longer.

Thus, here is your jam-packed threesome of social media topics on my mind for this fine Sunday morning in early May.

Path users can no longer “find friends” using Facebook within the app

I saw this article this morning while doing my very early morning “what’s going on out there?” twitter surf.   I am not surprised by any means.  Facebook hates things that they deem spam, or anything that comes off unclean to their users.path  They probably felt a little taken advantage of that they allowed Path to have this functionality and then family and friends of Path users were bombarded with invites, thanks to Facebook giving the “OK.”  Or so it seemed.  Facebook likes blocking things (see: Vine).  The social media war continues to get weird.

Instagram’s lack of Twitter Cards really sucks

I find this so annoying as a constant user of both Twitter and Instagram, and as one who has used Instagram for several brands from a business angle as well.   Instagram is to get that very visual content out there as a beautiful, pleasing connection with your fans.  You don’t want to just put the same photos in there that you put on other social platforms.  instagram However, you utilize other social platforms to basically ‘promote’ your Instagram posts and presence.  Now, Facebook does own it, so it obviously fully integrates on there pretty seamlessly.  I understand that Instagram was hoping this would drive more visitation to their Instagram site itself.  I get why they’re doing it.  All it did was annoy me and cause me to take in less Instagram content.

Again, the social media war drags on.

But when I am scanning my Twitter feed and see an Instagram link now, I honestly don’t even want to look at it.  I don’t want to click out and go to another website/app to see your picture.  I want to see it right there, and quickly consume it, like we used to.  I previously got most of my Instagram content from Twitter.  That all being said, I find myself using Instagram less and less.  Brands as we move forward might need to find new ways to get that content out there and not just rely on Twitter, just in case there are other people out there that hate those two extra steps now to get to your photo.  From first hand experience, once Twitter Cards went away, the brands I had on Instagram saw less activity from putting an Instagram photo out there on Twitter.  So…

The other side of this argument is from the people that use Instagram a TON, even more than Twitter.  They couldn’t care less about any of this.  For those people, this is no big deal at all.  For the Twitter-first user like me, this is a nuisance.

Are Facebook apps dying?  Or are they already dead?

I am only speaking from first hand experience managing and creating several Facebook apps for a couple different brands over the last few years.  I am not going off any article or stats that might have ‘made my mind up for me.’  So, these are just my thoughts as I’ve seen them evolve over the last 2 years.

People are really straying away from clicking on Facebook apps.  Users barely ever go to a brand’s actual page/timeline.  They consume from the newsfeed.  So, a post here and there or a sponsored story or marketplace ad will see a spike in traffic to the app, but overall it will most likely be pretty stale.

The apps themselves are more or less web pages that live within Facebook, on your brand’s page.  That just doesn’t seem that cool anymore.  People want things right there in front of them, seamless.  Not a page within a page that sometimes (God forbid) are even like-gated just to get in and see what the hell it is. Facebook-like-gate Like-gating.  So I seriously have to “sign-up” to get your status updates just so I can see this one Facebook app, or enter to win this one thing?  Real cool.

The new timeline changes will be altering the way they’re displaying anyway.  So, Facebook might already be on to this.  There will no longer be big boxes to click on.   Waiting on the verdict on that one…

Apps just aren’t cool anymore.  I said it a few sentences ago.  They are sooo 2011.

Agree with me?  Think I’m nuts?  I love to hear it.  Holler.

A follow-up: a month with Path and Instagram

Exactly one month ago I started using Path and Instagram.  The delay on Path was due to my utter need to avoid it as long as I could, and for Instagram it was the barrier to entry since I have only Android devices.  On that day a month ago, the Android Instagram app launched and I started to walk down the Path.  I wrote a quick blog about the two new (for me) social platforms.

My first impressions were positive for both.  I really liked how clean and easy to use Path was.  For Instagram, I already knew what I was getting myself into so there was no surprise factor, but in finally getting to use the app I quickly realized the cool factor was worth all the hype.

A month later?

Instagram is still really, really cool.  Worth a billion dollars?  Probably not.  But yes, really cool and also fun to connect with people strictly with imagery.  There are also benefits for a brand, too – sharing beautiful pictures that can quickly reach your followers to show off your product, location, style or whatever it may be you’re aiming for.  Instagram has been added to my home screen on my Evo and tablet.

Path is a bit of a different story.  While I still agree with my original assessment about the cleanliness of the app and the smooth sharing functionality with other platforms, the app is just plain boring.  I have been adding people for weeks and checking the app consistently, as well as posting my own content, and….crickets.  I never really got much more than a few views on my posts (which I will admit was pretty generic content) and other people that I followed hardly used the app.  A check-in here or there, a picture once a week.  Not much else.  The posts screamed, “I’m posting something that you’ll think is super boring, but it’s OK because I felt like my Path quota was coming up.”  The app is great and the platform had potential, but it just didn’t go anywhere.  Path has since been removed from my phone.

And there’s my update.  The winner by total knockout: Instagram.

Path and Instagram – so fresh, so clean

This week I did something monumental.  I started using two social platforms that previously were completely foreign to me.  Well, I knew what they were – I was aware they existed, but I had never touched them, seen the mobile app or really dug in much to what they were all about.  One was a matter of barrier to entry.  I have an Android mobile phone and tablet, so I physically couldn’t use Instagram until today.  The other, Path, I was basically avoiding simply to avoid.

I typically don’t dive into new social networks (for me) unless I plan on actually using them, and trying them out to the fullest extent without blowing my brains out.  I’ve tried certain networks and removed myself from them in the same week, and others I’ve stuck with because I either see value or I just enjoy them.  Yesterday and today I tried a new social channel, and both just might meet both criteria.  The two mobile apps are useful and also easy to use, and both have the entertainment factor.

So, why the hell would I want to extend myself into yet another social network?  Well, why not?

Instagram has been wildly popular for a while now, the king of photo sharing networks.  But, it has only been available on Apple products.  Now that I, along with all other Android users, can join the party, I expect this to grow exponentially (that sounded wrong – no, I don’t think it will grow exponentially because I am now on it).  Android users like myself have been making fun of it to no end, only because it was something we couldn’t have.  If you can’t beat em… make fun em.  I still think it’s silly that by clicking a button, people portray their photos as some masterful piece of art due to some color variances and a border, but nonetheless, that’s part of why it got so popular, right?  Everyone’s images just look better than anywhere else.   There’s your cool factor.

On to number two: Path really impressed me with how darn clean it is.  The look, feel, and use-ability is so smooth.   There is no nonsense.  This helps a newbie to Path like myself learn how to use the app in about 2.5 minutes.  There really isn’t much to it.  I really like how you can use it as your social sharing hub.  Post a Facebook status update, check-in on Foursquare, share a photo on Twitter… or, you can do all of those things at one time.   And, along with sharing it on the other networks, your post is also shared as part of your ‘path,’ which is literally a vertical map of where you go and what you do in life.  And if you don’t want to broadcast something all over the socialsphere, you can choose to only share it on Path.    There is a privacy factor I like – your path isn’t as publicly accessed as other networks, and you can pick and choose your friends on path that see your progression.

Another great thing about Path and the social sharing function- it’s a one-way street.  You share out your posts to selected social networks, and then it posts on those respective networks.  But, you don’t get bombarded with the feed from those networks of other people on your path.   Once again, very clean.  If you want to stay up on your Facebook newsfeed, go to Facebook.  But if you want to just add something to Facebook and not deal with it later, share it from Path.

These two networks have something distinctive in common.  They are both pretty much completely mobile.  Yes, they have websites, but the network itself does not sit on the world wide web as does many other social platforms.  There is very minimal functionality to the actual website of both channels – mainly just for updating your profiles.  Posts themselves from Instagram do get urls for sharing, but you can’t navigate anywhere else from the post.

I like them.  I think I’ll stick around and try both out for a while.  Instagram does have some value for businesses to set up accounts and share beautifully one-click-edited photos, but at this point I don’t think Path has any real benefit for a business.  Maybe more to come on that one.  At least that’s what I’ve discovered thus far.

Like any social networks, it’s a wait and see game.  Instagram has already proven itself to the world, but Path has not.  Now I hope they can prove themselves to me.

We’ll see if I’m still using these in 6 months.  My guess…probably.  There is just too much cool factor.