IF YOU’VE BEEN on Twitter today, chances are you have spotted some people requesting invites to something called Ello or, indeed, bragging about having invites to dole out.
But what is it?
It’s a social network that bills itself as sort of the “anti-Facebook”. On its website, it describes itself as “simple, beautiful and ad-free”.
Unlike other social networks, Ello states that it will not sell your personal date to advertisers and users on the site can opt out of information sharing if they so wish.
Ello first launched back in July with little notice and it is currently still in beta mode. That means you require an invite to join the site.
So, why the surge in popularity? It’s believed to have been prompted in part by Facebook’s new rule that users must use their real name, which has irked some members of the LGBTQ community in particular.
Since then, several have migrated to the site. Ello’s creator told CNBC that the site is growing by 27,000 users per hour.
People are so desperate to get an invite to Ello that invites are selling on eBay for anything between $5 and $100.
How are users finding it so far? Some find it to be a refreshing change of pace from Facebook.
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While others aren’t so keen.
And there’s already a bit of a backlash forming. Social entrepeneur Aral Balkan has taken issue with Ello’s failure to disclose the fact that they are funded by venture capitalists.
Let me put it bluntly: if a company has taken venture capital, you have already been sold. It’s not a matter of if, it’s simply a matter of when. (Unless the company goes under before it can exit, that is.)
And so it is doubly disappointing and worrying that Ello doesn’t mention that they are venture capital funded anywhere on their About page. Instead, as Andy Baio points out in his post on Ello, “[t]he About section makes it seem like Ello was built independently”.
This tweet pretty much sums it all up.
