A Follow Up on Ello

Near the end of September I blogged about a then emerging new social media site called Ello. I was recently invited to join the beta of the new test. The former post was all about speculation and what other people were saying about the new network but my interpretations of the site are a little different. 

One of the big moves Ello has made as a social media website is to go completely ad free, as much as I respect the decision and agree with the goal--to keep the users from becoming a product. My issue with the initiative is I really don't notice a large difference, in advertising at least, between facebook and Ello. In my experience there really aren't very many advertisments on facebook and other sites. Even if there are sometimes promotional posts suggested in my "newsfeed" they are easy to ignore. The reason Ello went ad free, the protest of the consuming culture is a great one, the execution however is not all that jarring. Whats the point of a protest if you have to tell everyone it is happening before they notice a difference.

The only other issues I have witht he site, like not having a mobile app or not having video will be remidided soon. Every month the company adds features that the current users ask for. By the time the Beta ends Ello will have everything facebook does in terms of features.

The one common perk most users will agree on is the beauty of the sites simplicity, there is no distraction from the content the users post, all attention is left to the pictures and text posted by the members that that you follow. The site uses simple black and white leaving absolutly nothing to draw attention away from the posts on someones account or in your feed.

Ello might not be for everyone and they may have some flaws in their protest of the world of advertisment and commercialism but I'm excited to see what they do next.