4 ms·

One which limits your 'feed' to 25 friends and that is it. An ex-Googler (that never played defense![1]) tried that with the social network Path. I think the l

One which limits your 'feed' to 25 friends and that is it. An ex-Googler (that never played defense![1]) tried that with the social network Path. I think the limit was 50 friends though. It failed. Edit: [1] Quote attribution: "I don’t use a ring of any kind on my phone. This is so that I am always on offense and never defense." - Dave Morin

freehunter 7y ago
To be fair, almost every non-Facebook social network has failed. I wouldn’t consider that to be proof that a limited social network can’t succeed but rather that social networking sites are difficult to produce.
- ckosidows 7y ago
  That's why this has remained an idea for me rather than anything I would consider attempting. Social networks have an enormous bar to entry. This is why I think this would most feasibly be applied as a restriction to Facebook/Instagram and it's probably something they will never implement unless forced.
  - throwaway1777 7y ago
    Facebook and Instagram have the concept of “close friends”. A lot of people use it pretty close to how you’re envisioning.
- jbigelow76 7y ago
  No disagreement here. I just recall that guy being comically pompous (see also his penchant for carrying both a "day iphone" and a "night iphone") at the time Path launched.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    Wow, what is it with anti-social people starting social networks? I long ago lost track of my collection of ridiculous quotes from the Friendster guy. But I still remember him being outraged that people were using it wrong by creating profiles for abstract things they loved (cities, parks, stores, brands) and then friending them. Like, buddy, when your users find new ways to use your product, run with it. Instead, he just got big mad and banned a lot of people. Looking back, Friendster strikes me as the single biggest missed opportunity of that decade. He had a two-year lead on Facebook. In a network-effect business! But through careful focus and diligent effort, he managed to blow it.
    - swyx 7y ago
      wasnt inability to scale a part of it tho? we didnt know how to architect for eagerly connected graphs then.
    - cyborgx7 7y ago
      To some anti-social people, building a social network might seem like a solution to make social interactions more manageable.
- asdf21 7y ago
  Idk, I wanted to try path and never even got the chance because it never launched as far as I know (for the web at least?)
1337biz 7y ago
Have we ever seen social networks succeed that were not primarily driven by highschool kids? (except work oriented ones, e.g. LinkedIn/tech communities and pre-www communities)

freehunter 7y ago

To be fair, almost every non-Facebook social network has failed. I wouldn’t consider that to be proof that a limited social network can’t succeed but rather that social networking sites are difficult to produce.

ckosidows 7y ago
That's why this has remained an idea for me rather than anything I would consider attempting. Social networks have an enormous bar to entry. This is why I think this would most feasibly be applied as a restriction to Facebook/Instagram and it's probably something they will never implement unless forced.
- throwaway1777 7y ago
  Facebook and Instagram have the concept of “close friends”. A lot of people use it pretty close to how you’re envisioning.
jbigelow76 7y ago
No disagreement here. I just recall that guy being comically pompous (see also his penchant for carrying both a "day iphone" and a "night iphone") at the time Path launched.
- wpietri 7y ago
  Wow, what is it with anti-social people starting social networks? I long ago lost track of my collection of ridiculous quotes from the Friendster guy. But I still remember him being outraged that people were using it wrong by creating profiles for abstract things they loved (cities, parks, stores, brands) and then friending them. Like, buddy, when your users find new ways to use your product, run with it. Instead, he just got big mad and banned a lot of people. Looking back, Friendster strikes me as the single biggest missed opportunity of that decade. He had a two-year lead on Facebook. In a network-effect business! But through careful focus and diligent effort, he managed to blow it.
  - swyx 7y ago
    wasnt inability to scale a part of it tho? we didnt know how to architect for eagerly connected graphs then.
  - cyborgx7 7y ago
    To some anti-social people, building a social network might seem like a solution to make social interactions more manageable.
asdf21 7y ago
Idk, I wanted to try path and never even got the chance because it never launched as far as I know (for the web at least?)

1337biz 7y ago

Have we ever seen social networks succeed that were not primarily driven by highschool kids? (except work oriented ones, e.g. LinkedIn/tech communities and pre-www communities)