Private social networks are making a comeback. Gratitude Plus, a startup that aims to steer social media in a more positive direction, is expanding its wellness-focused personal reflection journal to include support for families who want to stay connected even while physically distant.
The startup, whose name reflects its core offering, a gratitude journal, is somewhat reminiscent of Path, which was founded years ago. Path had briefly emerged as a Facebook challenger by creating a space where smaller groups of people could interact with each other. The app was notable for limiting users to just 50 friends, ensuring their interactions remained in narrower circles than on larger social networks.
For a while, Path prevailed, and while it never toppled Facebook, it was an example of how private social networks can work when done right. (The company had raised too much venture capital to recoup its investment without an exit, so Path was sold to Korea’s Kakao in 2015.)
Likewise, Gratitude Plus is not intended for use by a general audience. Instead, it encourages users to build healthier relationships and better mental wellness habits by providing an in-app space for journaling, mood tracking, and connecting with family and friends through small, private “circles.”
“I made it very simple,” says New York-based founder and app developer Daniel Shaffer. “I wanted people to feel like they were writing in an elegant diary.”
When you open it, the app prompts you to journal with a simple question: List three things you are grateful for today. You can also convert the prompt into other suggestions, such as “What made you smile today?”, “What are you looking forward to today?”, and others, or you can write your own suggestions. The journal reminders can also be set to random mode so you receive a new one every day. You can also optionally add photos to illustrate your answers.
But unlike a private diary, your answers to the app’s prompts are intended to be shared with a private group, such as your family members, close friends, or even a partner.
“When I spoke to users, they loved that it was an app that gave them a minute or two to think about their day,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer says he was inspired to build Gratitude Plus after his mother died. His journey through grief led him to seek more accessible mental health tools, he says, and led him to build a wellness platform that people could use with their own friends and family to respond to more positive ones and stay in touch in a more personal way than traditional social media. He’s not the only one looking for such tools; For example, another widow-founded startup, DayNew, offers a social platform for people dealing with grief and trauma.
At Gratitude Plus, however, the focus is not necessarily on healing from grief, but rather on maintaining the relationships that matter in the present.
With the launch of the new Family plan on Mother’s Day (Sunday), up to four members can share a Premium subscription for $74.99 per year.
In addition to private networking, you can also see how others in the app’s broader community are feeling that day through a community feed based on anonymous posts from individual users. Users can interact with these posts by leaving hearts or messages of support. About 50% of the app’s users share the feed anonymously, Shaffer said.
“People feel really good when they support other people. That’s one of the magical things: If you keep going here and have a negative attitude, you send people a few messages and you feel better,” he says. “A lot of people say it’s like a positive social network.”
Gratitude Plus encourages daily habits with features like push notifications and streaks, but Shaffer believes the greater appeal comes from the people you use the app with: family, friends, a partner, a child, and others you enjoy being with want to interact. Some users also post with a wider circle of friends on the app, such as those in a dorm or school, or even a group of other YC founders.
Shaffer plans to add more mental wellness tools to the app, such as meditation, breathing exercises, and others.
The freemium app today has over 10,000 users, 650 of whom have a paid subscription that provides access to more features.