As I celebrate another trip around the sun (number 44), I find a pleasure and purpose in reflecting on what went right and what didn’t quite go according to plan. Fittingly, about this time is when my one year subscription to “Path Social” expired. I’m curious about what in the world (or cyberworld) actually happened. It’s sufficient to say that this goes in the box of things that didn’t go according to plan. I’m wondering if plans of connecting with real humans in an authentic way is just a pipe dream on the world wide web. Ever the empath and eternally the optimist, I refuse to believe that. I think plenty of people are looking for connection with content creators with a vibe that helps them lift the motherlode. There must be ways to match the seeker with the influencer, like a healthy well-being matchmaker. Ads for Path Social made me think this was it. It was not.
While on Instagram one summer afternoon in 2024, I came across an ad for Path Social. The claim was that it’s the “top Instagram growth solution,” and that they use AI to expose your content to real humans that favor content like yours to grow your followers with highly engaged users with organic growth that lasts.
The notion of paying a subscription to get more eyes on my content only appealed to me if it was real humans really interested in fitness and wellness. Those are who I want to help. I don’t care about numbers; never have. I deeply care about people. My content is raw, unfiltered, no makeup, no Botox, unrehearsed, live outdoor adventures. It’s me jogging the dog, winning triathlons, racing trail runs, going on open water swims, jumping off of cliffs, and spreading the message that if I can do it, you can, too! With only a couple thousand Instagram followers, I felt like the upside of reaching more people was touching more lives. That incentive was worth the nominal yearly fee of Path Social. (That fee was tantamount to a one-night stay at a Marriott.)
Path Social doesn’t overtake a person’s Instagram account. In fact, they don’t even have password access or any way of creating content on your behalf. The service allegedly is to engage new organic followers. In theory, they sync your vibe and attract your tribe.
What I found, in actuality, to be true is that you gain followers who all have periods, hyphens, underscores, obscure names– and often a combination of two or more of these. Of those gained followers, exactly zero watch your Instagram stories. Your story watchers will be the same real people who followed your stories from the get go (before you used Path Social) and your engagement with posts and reels will not change from pre-Path Social era. Your follower numbers will grow. And when it gets close to your subscription ending, the number of mumbo jumbo names with -._ characters will skyrocket. If you’re me, you’re too naive to see what’s right in front of you: none of these additional “numbers” are humans you’re helping. You had that before (and they’ll follow you to the ends of the earth). The new tens of thousands of followers if not bots may just as well be. (That’s a big, generous “if.“) When your annual Path Social subscription ends, the numbers will drop by the hundreds each day.
As Glenda the Good Witch said, “You had the power all along, my dear.” When your followers like bolomoeonkaglueck_tedd (an actual handle) fly the coop, you’re eventually left with only real people who watch and engage with your real stories, find your content motivational, and use your reels as inspiration to do some cool stuff off of their digital devices. People know honest, real, genuine when they see it. The internet is becoming increasingly artificial and impersonal. Be the light you were born to be. The right real people will find you. And if they don’t, at least you won’t feel like you paid for something as banal as an Instagram follower number.
It may sound trite, but I will not be renewing my Path Social subscription. I will, however, continue to hold my arm out with camera phone in hand as I jog my Great Dane, Ernie, in the mornings to say “Good Morning” over Instagram stories and share my meandering thoughts. I will deliver 3-minute Musings from my Cold Plunge. I’ll probably win an all-female triathlon next month and a 5K race in October (a race I won first overall female in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024). I will come to you sweaty (at least you can’t smell me from your side- wuff!). I’ll deliver workout inspiration. I will hold my camera out as I hike glorious mountains.
ChatGPT isn’t invited to any of this. Nor is AI. Nor is Photoshop (some of you would have photoshopped out the kids with the pool noodle in this blog cover photo. Nope. They were there. So there they are!). Nor are the grammar police. (I’m not entirely sure these punctuation marks are going on the proper side of the parenthesis.) Nor are spelling experts. (I wrote a whole book about helping women lift the mother load before learning it’s motherlode.) It will just be me coming to you with an invitation to join me on my daily adventures from the lens of a very cracked iPhone. (An Otterbox is supposed to mean that doesn’t happen, right?)
If you’re down with all that, you can find me @BrookBenten on Instagram.
