By now you surely have heard all the buzz about Ello. Lately the newest social media site has been the main topic of the interwebs, and everyone seems to have their own predictions about its fate.
Whenever a new social media site is introduced, the same question arises: “but will it replace Facebook?” And the answer usually is, “probably not.” There are a few reasons why this is true.
The biggest draw to Ello is that they do not use advertisers, which in turn means they do not sell your information to advertisers. In a world where people get thousands of ads shoved in their faces daily, this is an attractive feature.
Ello is “invite only” meaning that you need to be invited by a current member in order to join and create a profile. For some reason this is an attractive feature to people. I guess it makes some people feel accepted into some sort of club. This tactic was used by Google + a few years back. Although Google + is still around, it never got anywhere near being as popular as Facebook.
One thing that is surprising about Ello is that it was launched while still incomplete. They list about ten things being worked on currently. One would think that they would implement these fixes before launching their site. People are also surprised that a mobile version of the site is not available as of yet.
Ello has picked a black and white minimalist format that looks clean and uncluttered. Your connection’s profiles are little circles, and they are separated into two categories, “friends” for the people you know personally, and “noise” for the people you don’t. The site looks modern and fresh, and navigation is user-friendly.
One of the most worrisome insights is that it seems like Ello might become a bit of a hipster haven. For example, their “learn more about us” page is listed under “WTF.” The irony is lost on some. The “favored user profiles” are littered with pictures of guys with gentleman haircuts, and a bunch of them are wearing 3D glasses. It’s still a little early to tell though.
If you want to join Ello, go to their homepage and “request an invite.” The site will comb through your email and see if any of your contacts are active members. If not, you gotta wait till someone you know joins. Until then, remember that patience is a virtue. 🙂
