Ello is an ad free, artsy and minimalist kind of social network. You probably have heard more renditions that have triggered a massive media attention to a website that was started by some friends with a relatively radical approach towards existing social networking setup. Ello is different, and yet familiar. There is a reason why this nascent project is witnessing over 35k hourly sign-ups that led the owners to stop accepting new user subscriptions for the time being. The reasons are uncomplicated design and the core idea – ad free social network. When was the last time you noticed people discussing so much about a new, untested and fashionably radical social networking website?
1. Ello is invite only
Your way to one of internet’s hottest new invite-only clubs is actually only an invite away from another Ello user. You are good if you know a person already on Ello, otherwise wait till the site owners start accepting new users again.
Cautionary note: Don’t ask for invites on the Ello sub-Reddit, since that can get you banned!
2. Ello is not for everybody
“If it’s too jarring, that’s great. … We did not design this thing to be a mass audience product.” – Todd Berger, Ello co-founder
3. Ello lets you manage your list as Friends and Noise
In Ello you place every user followed user into one of two groups: either Friends or Noise. Hence, choose the accounts you follow wisely – the noisy ones or the real buddies. This is definitely among the coolest Ello features.
Note: With Noise, the Ello guys refer to people you don’t want rapid updates from.
4. Switch between Friends and Noise
What can you do if a Friend becomes Noise or Noise becomes a Friend? The simple way: Manage your list by dragging users from the left panel to the to Noise or Friend section in the Control Panel. The simpler way: open the user profile and toggle between Friend and Noise.
5. Finding friends on Ello
This is the strangest of all features: you can’t add friends if you don’t know their Ello user names. Quite a drag in my opinion.
6. Ello is GIF friendly
Unlike its sharp rival Facebook, Ello lets you share image updates, including lovely GIFs. Select the “Say Ello” box at the top > click the squares > hover and select the black box that says “Upload” and share your image with fellow Ello-ites.
7. Ad-free for life
Social network Ello comes with a big statement. Founders have confirmed that it will stay ad-free forever. It also gives its users an “opt-out” option from the Google Analytics tracking, which among other Ello features is an entirely different concept concerning business aspects.
8. Paid features possible in reality
Ello founders have plans of introducing paid profile upgrades to Ello users for services like data exporting or profile enhancements.
9. Ello offers no Likes, +1s or thumbs up
If it wasn’t cool enough, Ello has no intention of keeping Likes or +1s in its setup. This makes it really interesting from marketing aspects, since it would be more challenging.
10. Ello is private, safe and secure
“If you want a more private social experience, you may want to flip the switch to off because, as Hoback notes, “If the company can see the information, then the government can see the information.” – Todd Berger, Ello co-founder
11. Minimalist and artsy
Ello offers minimal profile setting, and believe more in intent rather than content. They use Google Analytics to track visitor behavior, but let people make that choice on their own, unlike other major social networks.
12. Dear Sir, we just need your Email
Your email is enough to set up an Ello account. Hence, you have the golden ticket, all you need is your email address to do the basic formalities. Ello doesn’t even asks your birth date and gender! Who cares? Sure, they don’t!
Featured photo credit: Ello via ello.co
