Can Ello really invade the Facebook kingdom and live to tell the tale?
3 December 2014 by Marketing Team
On the 30th September we submitted our application to Ello, we figured it would take maybe a week or so for them to reply and grant me access to the site. The time passed, 71 days to be precise, and Ello dropped from the peak of our attention to the depths of our memory. None the less, the invite arrived and we snapped up the chance joined Ello. This could have been the ideal opportunity to expand our social media presence. As it happens, Ello is a mecca for artists and well groomed beards; we do not profess to be either!
The unique selling point of Ello is its ethical approach to social media, somethingwhich Ello is now legally obliged to live by after becoming a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). Therefore, Ello users can rest assured that they will not be bombarded by the advertising we have become accustomed to on Facebook. Whilst this is great news, it does not mean Ello is without a doubt a contender to Facebook’s social media thrown.
Ello’s intentions were clear from the start as their manifesto states “Your social network is owned by advertisers – you are the product that is bought and sold”. This manifesto soon led to the title ‘anti-Facebook’ as people were under the impression Ello was out to invade and conquer Facebook’s empire. However, Ello founder Paul Budnitz said “We are not trying to be the biggest”. Despite this, Ello initially saw a spike in the number of users flocking to the site and their servers struggled, hence why they have been slow in replying to requests. However, the word on the web is that the move towards Ello has slowed dramatically, although there is no definitive answer as of yet.
Personally, we do not yet see the attraction of the social platform. Sure it’s ad free and ‘simple’, but the beta versions features are limited and the whitespace appears beneficial only to artists wanting to create their own thing, and there are a lot of artists on Ello. In fact, of the first twenty profiles Ello recommends to us, only one was not an artist, photographer, graphic designer or musician. This was the profile of Rahul Ghandi, the Vice President of the Indian National Congress and Member of Parliament for Amethi.
But that is not a complaint or criticism, it is quite the opposite. Ello’s creators are artists themselves; in fact the platform would have remained unknown if their artistic friends had not wanted to be involved. Therefore, it seems wrong of anyone criticise Ello for the artistic layout and following when art is the very reason for its existence. Is it not refreshing to see people sticking to their ideas and beliefs?
No one, not even Ello, can tell if the social platform will be a quick hit or a long term success. After all not even the great Mark Zuckerberg had a crystal ball to see that Facebook would ever extend its reach outside of US Colleges. For those of you using Ello, keep at it and be patient as they are currently developing features such as private messaging, re-blogging and a number of other features. There is undoubtedly room for growth and a solid foundation to build upon, so we should all watch this very artistic space….