Path and Nike teams up to make running more social
The social journal Path has launched its latest version of the app today, including a new integration which features the company’s first partnership ever. The collaboration with Nike will allow users to log their running paths on a map and share your route with friends.
“When you step out for a run, Path will… update and say you’re running through San Francisco and perhaps even tell you it’s a certain kind of weather,” said Dave Morin, CEO and founder of Path. Morin spoke to reporters at its headquarters this morning, hoping the announcement of their first and only partnership will revive the interests of its lost users since the privacy debacle during which the app uploaded the address book of each user without notifying them. ”We did what we thought was the best thing to do: be transparent and apologize and make a change.”
In the latest interface of Path, users can connect to the Nike Plus app with Path to enable their GPS tracking system. As the user runs, a route appears on the map and gets updated in real time so friends can see the runner’s pace, time and distance. Users can enable their music playlist to keep their energy levels pumped. If friends are watching the run, they can cheer the runner on to help motivate him or her to their finish line, and the runner will also hear a cheering sound play as friends throw in their two cents.
The new Path is currently private so it can ensure the app functions properly and posts quality items that people will care about.
“We want to make sure that the stories that show up in Path are good stories and a big part of people’s days,” Morin said. Path also promises to add more partnerships to add more features, starting from health-related apps to new verticals.
One of the more significant feature of the Path 2.1 update includes a Shazam-like music recognition feature where users can hear a song during a point in their daily lives and post it on their journal as if they’ve been provided a soundtrack. Path 2.1 will also have improved camera lens. These new features will hopefully bring back users, though Path claims it has not seen a significant drop since the controversy, and the update will only build more memberships.
Looks like technology these days have been attempting to make exercise a more socially-engaged activity, just like we’ve seen with our recent coverage of the Zombies, Run! app on the iPhone. The gaming app lets people listen to narrations of a world overrun with zombies as you take your jogs so you can pretend to physically escape zombies. For the gadget-obsessed, if apps don’t motivate or encourage you to work out, we don’t know what will.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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