dave morin, you’re smarter than this.

as any of my friends would tell you, i overshare on path… to a fault. i overshare because i’m in love with path. i love everything about it.

the latest release, version 3.0, you added messaging and stickers. REALLY?! this is what you’ve been wasting your time with???

every release to this point had been pretty innovative… searching past moments; the ability to share movies, books, and songs; the nike+ integration; the beautiful UI that redefined mobile app navigation.

now, you’re officially going in the direction that you set out to go against. 

if you set out to be a private network for only your closest friends and family, why isn’t path getting more granular? path should be the app i use to share the things that i only want a select few to know about.

path does some really special things. there’s nothing better than “getting cheers” in my head phones while i’m out for a run.

i should be able to share anything as i’m doing it, so my closest friends and family feel like they’re enjoying it with me. tv shows. youtube, vimeo, netflix and vdio videos. songs on spotify, rdio and pandora. sharing movie, concert or sporting event tickets. a “Parker just bought tickets to this”, or a “Parker is doing this right now” feature, with a “Join In” button. path should have geo-fences that alert me when my closest friends and family are nearby. if it’s truly a private network for those closest to me, i shouldn’t care if they know that i’m close or what i’m doing. in fact, i should be able to share where i’m going, and have an easy way for each of us to be alerted if we’ve made plans that are in proximity of each other. it should be about sharing our lives with those closest to us, even when we’re apart.

it’s not about stickers and text messaging.

the more granular path gets, the more it will be forced to stay the most private of networks. but, the more it goes in the direction it’s going, the less of a reason i have to use it.

oh, and drop the friend limit from 150 back down to 50. you’re doing path a disservice with that too.

whenever a new concept, new app, or new feature is released that includes some new search function, I always try to do the same thing… I try to break it.

I don’t think I was the only person that was confused about facebook holding a media event to announce graph search. I didn’t get it.

as soon as graph search was enabled on my facebook account, I could wait to have another reason to hate facebook. then, it all I blew up in my face…

I couldn’t break it.

in fact, I immediately began to rely on it. within minutes, i realized that graph search is probably one of the most powerful search and discovery engines available today.

let me give an example:

“Thai restaurants in Los Angeles, CA that are liked by people from Thailand who live in Los Angeles, CA”

there is a fairly specific string of words needed to return the exact results that you’re looking for, but results are the most specific and most accurate that I’ve seen.

last year, I went to Austin, TX for SXSW and found a great coffee shop called Houndstooth. this year I had to go to San Antonio, TX for a weeding. I love coffee. as soon as I landed, I opened up graph search:

“Coffee Shops in San Antonio, TX that are liked by people who also like Houndstooth Coffee in Austin, TX”

sure enough, I got a short list of great coffee shops in San Antonio.

if you already have graph search enabled on your facebook account, here are a few thought-starters that will help you take advantage of the power of graph search…

“Mexican Restaurants in Los Angeles, CA that my friends like”

Coffee Shops in Santa Monica, CA that are liked by people who also like Intelligentsia Coffee”

“Single girls who are friends with my friends”

…you’re welcome.

and, my personal favorite:

“Bars and Nightclubs in Los Angeles, CA that are liked by single girls that went to University of Southern California”

have fun.