Jo / Published on October 7, 2014
You may have already heard distant ramblings and brief discussions about Ello but we’re here to help with all the confusion.
What exactly is it and why should we be interested?
Well, Ello is here to add to the ever expanding list of social media sites that have filtered through our lives over the last decade but we are assured that this time, we’re being offered something completely unique.
Invite-only and proving particularly difficult to join, the latest social network aims to offer exclusivity in a world where typically we are confronted and enticed by constant invitations more often than not from people we haven’t even met!
Aiming to appeal to those fed up with being bombarded by advertisements, having their activities tracked and being constantly encouraged to become ‘friends’with strangers, Ello has been dubbed the ‘Anti-Facebook’as it prides itself in being completely ad-free and born from ‘a belief in audacity beauty, simplicity and transparency.’
The founders of the innovative site have said “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.”
Effectively, Ello isn’t offering us anything particularly new but is in fact offering us what other social networks are failing to provide - privacy.
The site is minimally designed, sporting a slick black and white interface that looks instantly more modern and stylish than its rivals.
Unfussy and intentionally sparse, the users and their content are the focus, while other site elements generally go unnoticed.
As Ello is technically still in ‘Beta’testing mode it is lacking in features that we would usually expect to see as standard for a social network however this is something that the site is said to be working on as they plan to introduce a series of new features to its users although this is expected to come at a slight cost.
As an emerging and intensely contemporary social network, Ello is just one of a long list of sites that have attempted to replace Facebook and no doubt, we as users, are undeniably seeking something new, something better but is Ello what we’re looking for?
Facebook is constantly developing and innovating in an attempt to hold its spot as number one in social media but we have seen this happen over and over again…anyone remember Myspace or Bebo?
Our insatiable appetite for the latest and greatest means it is almost impossible to stay top dog for too long in this industry, could this mean the end for Facebook, the end of excessive advertising?
We’re not too sure, it seems as though there is always something lurking in the shadows attempting to steal the spotlight but only time will tell if Ello has what it takes to dominate as our go to social network.
