Ello - The Anti-Facebook

[MickMcGeough]

Yeah so - do we really need another social network?

Of course not, but Ello is banking on us wanting a different social network.

Ello's Manifesto:

Your social network is owned by advertisers.

Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold.

We believe there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty, simplicity and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and the people who use them should be in partnership.

We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life.

You are not a product.

Ello CEO Paul Budnitz made an excellent point in an EndGadget interview that seems to escape most Facebook users:

"When we started building Ello, we started with a few principles," said Budnitz. "The first is: no ads. A social network doesn't have to be complicated and it especially doesn't have to be that way if it doesn't have ads." He went on to say that when a network like Facebook shows ads, the advertiser is the customer, not you. "The thing that's being sold is the user," he said.

Ello's apparently receiving 20,000 invitation requests per hour right now.

Is there something valuable there? Who knows... but there's a big market of Facebook haters out there...

(PS if anyone has an invite - please PM me!)

[Resolute 14]

I would be nice if Ello can both retain its ethical stance and reach a critical mass that allows a great many people to leave Facebook, but it does still need a revenue model of some sort to survive. Hopefully they have a plan of some sort for that.

[Mazrim]

Not really a fan of the design. On my phone especially...it looks like Craigslist.

[Wood]

This is one of those ideas a lot of people probably had, but just never took initiative to create it

[Finger Cookin]

NSFW (language)

Spoiler!

Also: http://www.wired.com/2014/09/faceboo...eyso-wont-work

[gottabekd]

Maybe I'm old, because I still don't know what is going on.

But if you want the opposite of Facebook, you should let users auction their profile/friends/networks to advertisers. If you paid people to pretty much Facebook, would that not at least catch a few users?

Brb...I'm going to Zuckerberg this idea. VCs plz PM me.

[FlamesPuck12]

So how are they planning to pay their bills?

[Winsor_Pilates]

Haven't heard of this site in particular, but I think the next Facebook can't be far away.
There's always something new, there's always something that can be done better, and a lot of the Facebook issues they are mentioning here, are pretty common complaints.

[SebC]

Will be interesting to see if they can succeed where Google failed. Facebook, like email, is becoming more and more polluted.

[You Need a Thneed]

I don't know what's going to replace it, but I still think Facebook will be out of business in 5-10 years.

It nearly always happens in that industry.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I would be nice if Ello can both retain its ethical stance and reach a critical mass that allows a great many people to leave Facebook, but it does still need a revenue model of some sort to survive. Hopefully they have a plan of some sort for that.

I think the business model was to sell "upgrades". That model actually sounds a lot like dating sites or Linkedin's premium accounts. I am not sure though how well it works on those sites, if they're generating enough revenues without the ads or selling data. I don't really mind advertising, as long as the site isn't skimming personal information from your profiles to sell to marketing companies.

[TurdFerguson]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I don't know what's going to replace it, but I still think Facebook will be out of business in 5-10 years.

It nearly always happens in that industry.

What industry is that?

Aside from MySpace which is a loosely relevant example, what other companies are you comparing Facebook to?