You Still Can't Comment On Path Pictures, But Now You Can Virtually Wink At Them

One thing that intrigues me about Path is that they’re attempting to do things by thinking outside the box. There are too many services, especially in the mobile photo-sharing space right now, that are basically doing the exact same things. Path isn’t. And this opens them up to some ridicule. And today’s latest feature could very well continue that trend.

Path has just added emoticons to the service. These allow you to respond to pictures your friends take with a smiley face, a winky face, an “O” face, a frowny face, or a heart.

Nope, I’m not kidding. :)

This does fulfill something that Path users have been asking for since the service launched: a way to give feedback to their friends on their pics. Previously, Path added the ability to text someone directly from the app if you wanted to say something about the picture they just uploaded. But this is much less intrusive. And it should lead to more social interaction on the site because it’s really some of the first true social interaction you can do beyond viewing.

The reality is that the feature is similar in concept to the “Like” button which has been popularized by Facebook and others. But it’s obviously more granular. You don’t have to just “like” something or not “like” it. You can express a bit more about it the way you might in an IM chat.

The move follows the addition of short, 10-second video clips last month. And the addition of Facebook Connect before that.

Look for the latest version of Path (1.3) in the App Store shortly — find it here.