WATCH ABOVE: Online producer Trish Kozicka gives us a look at the new social network that’s promising its users something that Facebook isn’t.
TORONTO – A social network promising user privacy and no ads? That’s what Ello claims to offer. It has some asking: is this the Facebook killer?
Created by a group of seven artists and programmers, it’s still in a beta phase as it works out bugs and introduces new features. It’s also only available through personal invites, and is fielding a reported 31,000 join requests per hour.
Ello differs from Facebook and Twitter in its “no ads” policy, and it doesn’t require you to register with your real name–contrary to Facebook’s recent decision to enforce such a policy that caused many drag queens and other members of the LGBTQ community to look for a new network.
Regardless of whether critics are right about its lack of staying power, or how the venture capital Ello received could play into its future, we’ll give you a peek inside to see how the new social network works, and what it’s promising to users.
Here’s what the invite looks like on mobile:
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Once you get in, you reach a welcome screen where you can create your user name and password.
Then when you’re set up, you’ll reach the home page that looks like this:
Designed with lots of white space, its features are easy to use and navigate through. The settings page where you create a profile is straightforward, with spots for name, bio and links, as well as options to turn notifications on and off similar to Facebook.
What looks like Facebook’s “Newsfeed” is in a column down the right side of the page that you can separate into “Friends and Noise.” The justification for that is described in the “WTF” section:
The Ello site notes that nobody except you sees whether you are following someone in Friends or Noise, and warns that following more than about 60 people in Friends becomes cluttered.
In a quick scan, many profiles look similar to an image-heavy Facebook feed or an Instagram account with minimal text. You can also “tag” your friends in posts the same way you would on Twitter but in what they call an “omnibar.”
The designers say that there will be a “@@” feature that will allow you to send private messages. Another upcoming feature they promise is a “LOVE” function so you can bookmark things that you like.
But where it really strives to be different is in the “no ads” department and the promise to avoid tracking or selling user data. The site explains they don’t make money on advertising themselves, while admitting there may be ads if people post YouTube videos on their own profiles.
“At the request of our users, Ello does support posting links to YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, and other media files that may have ads embedded in them. We can’t stop that, though we are working on our own video and sound file hosting system,” a message on the site says.
Ello says it collects “anonymized” user behaviour but that you can opt out by following a link. It also advertises itself as a free service, while noting it “occasionally” offers special features to users that can be bought at a “very small amount” but there’s no obligation.
Read the Ello manifesto below, and tell us what you think of the new platform in the comments below.
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