Startup Gratitude Plus expands app features

The app encourages users to establish healthier relationships and better mental wellness habits by offering a space for journaling, mood tracking, and staying in touch with family and friends through small, private “circles” within its app

Private social networking is making a comeback. Gratitude Plus, a startup that aims to shift social media in a more positive direction, is expanding its wellness-focused, personal reflections journal to include support for families who want to stay in touch even when physically distant.

The startup, whose name reflects its core offering of a gratitude journal, is, in some ways similar to Path, which was built years ago. Path had briefly emerged as a Facebook challenger by creating a space for smaller groups of people to interact with one another. The app differentiated itself by restricting users to just 50 friends, ensuring their interactions would remain in tighter circles than on larger social networks.

For a time, Path caught on, and while it never toppled Facebook, it stood out as an example of how private social networks could work, if implemented correctly.

The firm had raised too much venture funding to return on its investment without an exit, so Path sold to Korea’s Kakao in 2015.

Likewise, Gratitude Plus is not meant to be used with a wide audience. Instead, it encourages users to establish healthier relationships and better mental wellness habits by offering a space for journaling, mood tracking, and staying in touch with family and friends through small, private “circles” within its app.

I designed it to be very simple, says NYC-based founder and app developer Daniel Shaffer. I wanted people to feel like they are writing in an elegant journal.

But unlike a private diary, your answers to the app’s prompts are meant to be shared with a private group, such as your family members, close friends or even a partner.