My New Social Network
It’s hard not to think about how 2020 robbed us of some of the fun choices we took for granted - where to eat out, where to travel, who to have over for an impromptu get-together. But as I mentioned back in August, it also gave us all a new set of choices.
As time slowed down, I became a more conscious consumer of where to spend my energy. I had been off Facebook already for a while, moving my social posts and connections to Instagram, but more and more, Strava has become my social network of choice.
Strava quickly became one of my favorite fitness apps in the early days of the pandemic as I committed to the COVID cleanse. It’s a free community-based biking and running app that syncs with all your other fitness devices to track nearly any performance metric you could imagine. Its data reporting has been a game-changer in helping me measure and improve my own performance. As someone who thrives on goal-setting and competition, Strava has been an awesome tool to help fuel my motivation and hold me accountable.
I'm not the only one. With more than 73M athletes across the globe, Strava has become indispensable to a lot of others around the world. With gyms closed and more people working/locked down at home, it's not surprising to see this kind of adoption, but I think it also highlights another trend happening. The collective yearning to connect with people who have similar passions, outside of the toxicity and constant negativity that has infected a lot of the other social networks.
I love that Strava lets me see not just my own stats and trends, but how those compare with others around the world. Their annual user data report is also fascinating to me (see the screenshot below). With millions of active users across the world, it highlights what’s trending around running, cycling, swimming, and more (in my case kayaking!).
It also lets me stay in touch with people who I don't get to see on a daily basis. The Strava Appirio alumni group is one of my favorites. Not only do I get to celebrate the wins of some of my favorite people, but I’ve seen first-hand how our Appirio CloudFit program has continued its reach and influence outside of the company. Our Strava group is a small but mighty bunch, but it must be known I am determined to beat fellow alum, Nick Hamm. He’s a cycling beast. If you're a former Appirian and reading this, please join us!!
From groups like this one to how Strava stack ranks performance around the world, it’s incredible to see how apps like this and Peloton (another one of my favorites) are democratizing health and data to create a real human connection. Especially when the world needs it most.
