Today, the media channels report that Path says good bye. The social media closes its operation after Klout, which shut earlier this year. One-time rival to Facebook, Path was once popular as a limited-group social media. After being in the social media industry for 8 years, since founded in 2010, Path is officially closing its doors on October 18, 2018.

Path was founded by Dave Morin – a former product manager for Facebook, Shawn Fanning, and Dustin Mierau in 2010. Unlike Facebook, which does not limited the number of members in a social networking app; Path limited the members to maximum 50 friends. Therefore, it is a more private alternative of social networking. The users certainly had to select the 50 members to accommodate in the social networks carefully.

Flashback Stories Before Path Says Good Bye

Path enjoyed success few years ago, when it had more than 50 million users. It successfully raised money at $500 million valuation. Google had even tried to buy it before it was one year old. However, the time proved that the social networking app was unable to compete with Facebook – the most powerful social media app until now.

The company has actually tried many ways to save the business. It launched a separate app called Path Talk to connect business and users, but most ended with failure. It began to lose its staffs, users, and user data few years ago. Finally, it was bought by Kakao, a Korean messaging and internet giant company in 2015.

Kakao bought Path as it had potential market at that time. It was popular in Indonesia, the fourth-largest population in the world. Unfortunately, the strategy did not work much, and Kakao finally discarded the app from its business.

Path Says Good Bye after a Series of Schedules

Path officially says good bye and sent its deep regret today in its official website. The company confirms that it stops providing services. The company has to abandon its mission to become the source of happiness and meaning for its users. The company also tells its regret as the services has to be shut down after a long journey with the users.

Announcement today is actually a part of shutdown schedule that had been announced before, namely:

• September 17, 2018: discontinuation of Notice on Path service
• October 1, 2018: The users were not able to download Path app on Google Play or iTunes anymore
• October 18, 2018: Discontinuation of the social networking app. The users are not able to access the app anymore. This also includes termination of Service and Terms of Use.
• November 15, 2018: Termination of any Path-related customer service

The company had announced that the users could restore and retrieve their data, which include images, videos, and text, before October 18, 2018. The users could still log in to the app and back up their data. However, they will not be able to do it after October 18, as the company does not retain the users’ data anymore. After the service termination, the company will only focus on refund process for premium subscribers.