Not taken

Here’s the opening paragraph from a post at Medium:1

In 2010 a small team of us set out to build a company focused on quality products that bring you a source of happiness, meaning, and connection. Five years later, Path continues to follow that simple mission primarily within communities in Southeast Asia. We have reached a tipping point on our journey and for Path to truly grow we need more resources and a larger local team that deeply understands Southeast Asian markets. That is why today we are announcing a definitive agreement under which Daum Kakao will acquire Path and Path Talk. Kong will continue to operate as part of Path, Inc.

I like to think of myself as reasonably in tune with what the kids are doing on the internet, but apart from a general understanding of what “2010,” “small team,” and “company” mean, I have no clue what the rest of the paragraph (or the rest of the post) is about. I have a vague recollection of seeing path.com links every now and again, but I never clicked to learn what it was. If you’d forced me to guess, I would’ve said it was something like Foursquare.

I never visited Foursquare, either, but I knew you could use it to become the mayor of Applebees.

Even though I don’t know what Path, Daum Kakao, or Kong are, the funereal tone is unmistakable. But the author should look on the bright side. When I was a kid, learning that your journey was going to take you to communities in Southeast Asia would’ve been far more disheartening.


  1. They call it Medium because it’s neither rare nor well done. I will repeat this old joke until Medium itself goes the way of Path.