All you need to know about Ello, the new social networking services that is ad-free forever, by law.

1. THE QUICK AND DIRTY ON
About the creator
Paul Budnitz
Art- and
design-centric
entrepreneur,
founder of kid robot
Ello is being lauded as
one of the most hyped
social media networks
out there. “Simple,
beautiful & ad-free”,
the promise that Ello
makes is that its users’
privacy will never be
compromised for profit.
How did Ello get on to
everyone’s radar? A few
events happened at the
same time to drive Ello
from a small network of
100 to the hype it
receives now. The most
important of which is
Facebook’s new privacy
policy that stipulates a
user has to use their
real name. Musicians,
artists, performers alike
started a mass exodus to
Ello, and brought their
fans with them.
47%
No ads
ello.co
DESIGNED BY
Timeline
Got $435,000 in
venture funding
Raised $5.5m from
venture capitalists
in its Series A
funding round
Noise vs Friends
Ello gives you the
ability to choose
who shows up on your
main feed.
!!!
Micro-blogging feel, full length content
Facebook’s click through rates (CTR)
are way higher than average.
0.07%
of respondents said
facebook was the
one social network
that influenced
their buying
decisions the most.
(as of 2012)
Facebook Desktop
Newsfeed CTR
0.5-2%
How will Ello turn a profit without ads?
Summer of 2013
Ello launched for
90 people
August 7 2014
Relaunched as
invitation only site
September 2014
Facebook suspended
drag performers’
accounts for not
using their real
names
September 2014
4,000 users online
per hour & 30K-50K
signups per hour
(a combo of people
creating new
accounts, sending
out invites and
requesting
invitations)
What is Ello?
Ello vs Facebook
The hype
What’s so great about Ello?
What’s the deal with people vs ads?
Digital Media Average CTR
Facebook Mobile
Newsfeed CTR
3-6%
B
$
"We will make money, and we are a business, and we
have been really open about that since the beginning."
Ello’s future?
October 2014
Ello sent out an
email stating that
it has converted
itself into a
Public Benefits
Corporation
(a for-profit
company that has a
legal obligation
to do social good)
“There’s no finger to be
placed on what caused the
explosion,” Budnitz says.
“It’s a nice combination
of word of mouth,
influencers trying the
network, media coverage
and the veil of
exclusivity since you
have to be invited. It’s
worked quite nicely.”
Ello even had invites for
sale on ebay.
Ad-free forever, by law
The body of the email
outlines the terms Ello
has set down in their PBC
charter:
1. “Ello shall never make
money from selling ads;
2. Ello shall never make
money from selling user
data; and
3. In the event that Ello
is ever sold, the new
owners will have to
comply by these terms.”
Ello is not necessarily as socialist as it seems to be.
Business
model to run
on app-like
model
Users will
need to pay to
use advanced
features
Venture capital
suggests Ello
has a back up
plan if the app
model fails
Just a social media
site, pure and
simple.
No data mining
Ello performs no data
collection at all
(and therefore can’t
monetize it.)
Unlike other social platforms, Ello has no limits
on length of posts - get more bang for your buck
than Twitter. This includes no limit on image
resolution and number of pics per post. No format
changes out of the user’s control either - We’re
looking at you, Tumblr!
Ello’s main draw is that it’s never going to sell
info for adspace, which sounds like a big plus. But
according to the data, people don't actually seem to
dislike advertisement on social media.
Will Ello gain a following to rival Facebook, and does
it even matter?
Ello now has more than 1 million members, with 3 million
more in queue to join up. Of these:
36% 20%
of users have
never posted
of users actually
remained active 6
days after sign-up
However, these figures are relatively common for social
network launches, and we think that with a bit more
development Ello is likely to have a good chance at
success, especially as a social blogging platform within
the art and design community.
Sources
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237972
http://digiday.com/platforms/facebook-ads-are-killing-it-but-why/
http://www.inc.com/jeremy-quittner/paul-butnitz-talks-about-ello-and-other-subjects.html
http://www.imaginepub.com/will-ello-thrive-as-a-public-benefit-corporation
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/ello_pbc/
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