Social media has been abuzz about Ello, a new social network that has an anti-Facebook stance.
Ello was originally designed by its creators to only be a private social network. However, as more and more people wanted to join Ello, the creators developed a public version of it.
"You are not a product," Ello's manifesto states, criticizing how other social networks, which are tagged as "free," actually come at the price of the user's privacy and being opened up to advertising.
"Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that's bought and sold," wrote the social network's creators in its manifesto.
Ello then introduces itself as a social network that will serve as a tool of empowerment for its users. It has a strict no advertisement policy, and does not sell the data of its users to other parties.
All these are targeted against social networks such as Facebook, which is known for heavily leaning on advertising and data mining practices.
Ello, currently in beta mode, was launched earlier this year. The influx of users started out slow, but has greatly picked up the pace despite requiring an invitation from current users to join.
A report released earlier this week said that 4,000 users are signing up to Ello every hour. A second report released within the week stated that the rate had increased by seven times. Users have even began to sell invites to Ello on auction website eBay, fetching prices from $5 to $500.
The massive surge of customers can partly be attributed to the new "real name" policy of Facebook that requires users to use their real names as their account names, prompting an uproar from the drag queen community as they are being forced to drop the names that they are known for.
The protesters are saying that the new policy, which aims to make the Facebook community safer, is actually doing the opposite as it opens up users to attacks from others.
Can Ello continue and not "sell out" and eventually allow advertisers into the social network? Paul Budnitz, one of the website's seven founders and its CEO, told BeatBeat that they would, by soon adopting a freemium model that unlocks certain on-site features for users that wish to buy them.
"For example, some users may want to manage multiple accounts from a single login - like a designer who has a work Ello account and a personal one," Budnitz said. "We also have users from Europe and Japan who have asked for an inverted screen - white text on black. Apparently there is a big movement over there who thinks it is better for your eyes."
"I don't know if it's going to ever be 'the next big thing,' but it is definitely in the right place at the right time," said New York user experience executive Christopher-Ian Reichel. "And Facebook is at a critical moment where entire segments of its audience are all looking to jump ship."
Only time will tell whether Ello can succeed at what so many have failed to do, which is to become a worthy challenger to Facebook and its market value of $200 billion.
