Who writes about technology, especially when writing for a blog inevitably brings with it the desire to try any new app, tweak, operating system or, as in this case, a social network that is spit in the network. If to all this we match it to the fact that I am suffering from insomnia perennial, suddenly you understand that it is time to try this and you have had enough.
The social network which I will talk today I had heard some time ago on Twitter, and again thanks to a Twitter friend I managed to scrape together an invitation to come inside; I’m talking about Ello.
The invitation is as you can easily guess, for now, the only means available to get on the social network and, although the beginning may turn up their noses a little ‘at all, I assure you that in this case the solution was weighted seriously to allow a gradually increasing number of people to try a beta version yes, embryonic, of what will be Ello at the end of the path, but still ensuring that all use it in all its parts, without strange blocks or jamming. But what is it?
Ello: learn a new language
Ello, opening for the first time it remains for several minutes completely disoriented . The halo effect of Facebook and Twitter suddenly becomes overwhelming when you want to try out a new social network. Although as we shall see in detail, some functions are similar to those that we use everyday, the interface in the first place, and his philosophy of use in seconds, make Ello a white fly.
Say Ello …
Just after the first login, stands this lovely written in a white sea. The choice of the color palette is definitely unique, and from my point of view fits perfectly. Have the graphics with which you learn to interact quickly in black and white brings out what actually matters most on a social network: the ideas, comments, news.
Forget blue or heavenly Twitter; forget the ad (which will be discussed below) that creep in every point in our timeline; also forget useless posts shared by people more or less interesting; forget invitations to hundreds of silly games to which you would not want to play even under torture.
Even contact management has a completely different approach from all that is at this time in the network. When using the “Discover” button, it begins to look for someone to follow, we see that, next to his avatar and his short biography, there are two buttons that refer to the two categories which are always on the left: Friend and Noise. The user is added to this or that category will never have to know in which of the two has been relegated.
Within the first category are people who you really want to follow and with which we interact ; in the second we find the rest. For example, I have started to put in Friend of all my colleagues, friends and services (mostly tech blog) I love to interact with on a daily basis; in the second one I put all those people and not, that I have not much interest to interact on a daily basis.
Finally, no strangest lists as we used to always do on Facebook. interests me? I’ll put you in Friend, otherwise go in Noise.
Some call it the anti-Facebook
The comparison with the Zuckerberg platform is obviously the first thing you tend to do. Not for some strange reason, but simply because when it comes to social networking, 8 times out of 10 the first name that pops up is always the same: Facebook.
Some have already labeled Ello as the anti-Facebook, for me it is totally wrong for a simple reason: they are two completely different products. Of course, the target is always the same but the substance is ultimately what makes the difference, and although Ello is still in beta, it really has to sell.
As we all know Facebook as well as being the most populated in the social world is also the one that, at least for myself, is used to force things because in addition to this there is nothing comparable around. True and false at the same time; on Twitter, for example, there is a lot of nice people with whom I love to interact. Where once it was satisfying to get around to adding so many old friends back in elementary school with whom to talk, nowadays things are radically different. For two reasons mainly: advertising and privacy.
The first is an endemic, constant, of which you can not do without – Zuckerberg somehow had to find an economic approach to monetize the whole mass of users that populate Facebook – the second seems to be a direct consequence of the first.
For? No thanks
If you click on “About” and then “Ello Does not Have Ads”, a beautiful phrase (among many) explains the reason that led the creators of Ello not to include any kind of advertising on the inside.
You’re the product that’s being bought and sold. – You (User) are the product that is bought and sold. Companies that possess information about us monetize by selling such information to other companies. It is a discourse as old as the world and now, many of us do not pay much attention.
Ello from this point of view is very different from all the other competitors: its roots ethical seem to prevail over mere economic gain. Beautiful is not it? Yes, but sooner or later the talk “as we make money now?” Will look at the window and we have to find a solution.
I foresee two possible views: the first, in which Ello to continue to stay ad-free requires a monthly fee (or something similar to in-app purchases) to its users. If you want to continue to use our service and see no Ad on your timeline, pay X each month. It seems strange but I am convinced that many people would be willing to pay in order not to have advertising in the way and maybe it could become the norm among the social network. The second – less likely – in which Ello is less to his word and opens the door to advertisers as they have done so many times before.
One step after another
Ello is a creature that is born from day-to-day. The pace with which users arrive on the social network is constantly evolving, and this can gradually add and know many other people who, like me, and you (hopefully), Zuckerberg believes in a free service for advertising and making money selling our data.
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and many others at the beginning are born as social, free without advertising and without the intention of selling our information. Over time we’ve all seen how things have changed (for the worse in my opinion) and how easily we gave to our little personal space without thinking twice.
Maybe Ello fail, or not, but it allowed me to ask me a question that I had to make myself a long time ago: when did I so easily gave up my freedom on the web?
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