You’ve no doubt been hearing about Ello. Imagine the exact opposite of Facebook and you’re about there. It’s invite only, it promises no ads ever, and the site is currently doubling in size every 3-4 days. Remarkable when you think it’s still in the beta testing stage! Their manifesto states:

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.

You are not a product.

It’s been receiving mixed reviews so far. It has a very basic interface and lacks the user friendly design that Facebook has, but given that it is pitching itself as the antithesis of Facebook this is part of its appeal for some. It doesn’t insist on a real name like Facebook does and it promises to always be ad-free, making its money instead from selling premium space on the site. However, time will tell in terms of success.

Source: Gizmodo

The reality of any social network is traction. The more people that matter to you who use a network, the more likely you are to find it worthwhile to join as well. With 1.3 billion people using Facebook, it’s likely that your family, friends, favourite stars and brands are all on there. They’re not all on Ello yet and only when they are will it be a real contender to Facebook and Twitter.

At the moment there are significant numbers of journalists and social media geeks checking it out and a lot of people unsure how to use it yet. Gizmodo have put together an interesting overview you can read here. And like all popular new things that are invite only, there are also a lot of people enjoying putting it down before it’s really out there. Longer term, you’ll need to see whether it becomes popular among your peers or your customer base and decide from there…

Watch this space.