Facebook makes sharing easy ? too easy, some would say. Because one?s social network often consists not only of actual friends but also relatives and sort-of friends, along with sort-of friends of their sort-of friends, you need to be careful about what you post. Yes, the site does allow you to define smaller circles of friends, but that requires constantly monitoring what should ? and should not ? be shared with whom.
All of this has created an opportunity for start-ups to offer sharing that is intimate by design.
Newer social networks, like Path, FamilyLeaf and Pair, offer a range of constraints. A Path network, available only on smartphones, has a maximum of 150 friends. FamilyLeaf is restricted to family members. And Pair, which like Path is for smartphones only, is as small as a social network can be: just one other person.
The average Facebook user in the US has 245 friends. When Path introduced its social network, it capped the number of friends at 50. Today, Path has more than a million active users, and the average user has 40 friends.