Ello: An Ad-Free Social Network

1. THE QUICK AND DIRTY ON ello.co DESIGNED BY Timeline About the creator Paul Budnitz Art- and design-centric entrepreneur, founder of kid robot Summer of 2013 Ello launched for 90 people Got $435,000 in venture funding August 7 2014 Relaunched as invitation only site What is Ello? 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. September 2014 Facebook suspended drag performers’ accounts for not using their real names Ello vs Facebook 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. 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) !!! The hype “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.” Raised $5.5m from venture capitalists in its Series A funding round Ello even had invites for sale on ebay. 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) 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.” What’s so great about Ello? No ads No data mining Noise vs Friends Ello performs no data collection at all (and therefore can’t monetize it.) Just a social media site, pure and simple. Ello gives you the ability to choose who shows up on your main feed. Micro-blogging feel, full length content 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! What’s the deal with people vs ads? 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. Facebook’s click through rates (CTR) are way higher than average. 47% Digital Media Average CTR 0.07% Facebook Desktop Newsfeed CTR 0.5-2% of respondents said facebook was the one social network that influenced their buying decisions the most. (as of 2012) Facebook Mobile Newsfeed CTR 3-6% How will Ello turn a profit without ads? Ello is not necessarily as socialist as it seems to be. $ B 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 "We will make money, and we are a business, and we have been really open about that since the beginning." Ello’s future? 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 actually remained active 6 days after sign-up of users have never posted 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/ CREATED BY STINSON DESIGN WWW.STINSONDESIGN.COM