A new social network that positions itself as "anti-facebook" has just hit town. It's manifesto? The absence of any form of ads, data-mining, also no algorithms that determines what you should see, and especially no turning of users into products.
The network was launched in private beta last March, but what made them rise to popularity was when Facebook made a huge blunder by sticking to its policy of requiring real names only. It created a stir last month when drag performers Sister Roma and Lil Hot Mess were booted off the famous site for not using their real names. Their protests drove members of the LGBTQ community to turn to Ello and make a request to join the network instead.
Ello's creator, Paul Budnitz, says, " We are not competing with Facebook. They're the yellow pages." " Facebook wants everyone on earth on Facebook with their real name. Ello doesn't have that goal. We don't want everyone on. That's not what we're building," he added.
They have started getting an average of 50,000 new users per hour, according to Budnitz. The number is a mixture of people creating accounts, requesting invitations, and sending out invites. However, Ello only acknowledges invitations from existing users in order to contain the growth and so as not to melt their servers.
Ello was initially launched in the summer of 2013 supposedly as a private network for 90 friends only. But as the word on the new network spread, other friends began clamoring to join. As a result, he re-launched the site by invitation-only on August 7 after getting a $435,000 venture fund from Fresh Tracks Capital.
As to how the company will make money, Ello's strategy is to extend higher-value services and features which users will have to pay for. Since there will be no ads in the site, it will have to generate revenue directly from its users. They call it the freemium monetization strategy. Because of this action, some are debating whether or not it can build a social network on a large-scale basis. Others think it might work with a niche audience.
Budnitz admit they need to keep on creating interesting content that users would want to see. He says, " If you're a brand, you better put something interesting up or people will unfollow you."
