Ello – The New Kid on the Block

By – Vibhas Patil

Social Network? What’s that?

Image source: https://www.apsense.com/v50_images/network.jpg

Social Networking

Friends, Family, Like

Minded People

Build Relationships

Online

How Social Networks Make Money

A New

Social

Network

is Born

Organic

Growth

Increase

in

Prospects

of SMA

Users see

more Ads

Growth

in

Revenue

Inorganic

Growth

In a nutshell, that’s how most social

networks work. See what a big component

ads are?

Social Network Ad Revenues - Worldwide

There’s just one

problem with that,

people don’t like

ads!

Consider Facebook…

Behavioral Targeting

+ Others

E.g., Web Browser

History

Ads!!

Ads!!

Geo-Targeting

Here’s how Facebook decides which

ads to show you

How do People Want to Receive Ads/Communication

Source: http://pages.exacttarget.com/resources/sff22-us?ls=Website&lssm=Corporate&lss=SubscribersFansFollowers.AudienceGrowth&camp=701A0000000g0g5IAA

Medium of Communication Users Have Consented to

This is what we actually want!! See, no ads on Social Networks!!!

There’s gotta be a better way…

Source: http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17zls92f5eng3jpg/original.jpg

What if I told you… there’s a social network

without any ads!!

Enter – Ello!

Ohh…what’s

this?

Source:http://www.chelseadogs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1306481.jpg

Hey, even it’s logo looks nice and friendly!

Paul Budnitz Lucian Fohr Todd Berger

These guys started Ello in March ‘14

Paul Budnitz Todd Berger Joe Ledbetter

Your social network is owned by advertisers.

Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is

tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they

can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold.

We believe there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty,

simplicity and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and

the people who use them should be in.

Ello Manifesto

Ad-Free Social Networks – Yes, it’s Real!

Genesis

•Facebook sells your data to advertisers.

•This data is then sold to advertisers who hope to entice us with ads in our feeds.

User Data

•Doesn’t include any ads.

•In fact, those behind Ello “dislike ads more than almost anyone else out there.”

Ello’s Policy

• Not only does it not sell user data to third parties, you can decide whether or not you want to let it gather information about your own Ello activity to improve the site.

Freedom

No Ads!

An Anti-Facebook Approach to

privacy & data sharing

Doesn’t sell your data to

third parties

Doesn’t track your

location

Highlights

This is what

it looks like!

What you see above is called the Omnibar.

Post Links

Reply to

Posts

Photos,

Videos

Messages

Friends

• Similar to Facebook

• Detailed news feed

Noise

• General Users, Mutual Friends, etc

• Snapshot of multiple users

Feed

• Fluid design – similar to Twitter without a text limit

• No ads!

Friends – As you can see, detailed posts that can contain text, images, links, etc.

Noise – This is what my feed looks like. You can see snippets from various users.

Why is it Popular?

Ello doesn’t sell your ads and they don’t sell your information to anyone. Winning!!

Ello took just 6 months to reach a user base of 1 Million. And there’s

another 3 million on the waitlist. Yeah, it’s really popular

Time Taken by Social Networks to hit 1 Million Users

Social Media Marketing – A Key Takeaway from Ello

Trust - Reinforce trust amongst users that their data is secure.

The model of “you get free

social networking, we get your

data and eyeballs,” needs to

change.

Maybe we need to rethink the

core approach to social media

itself.

Re-evaluate idea of

acquiring new followers

or ‘Likes’ as quantifiable

metrics of Social Media

success.

Reach out to top consumers in ways that is

non-intrusive.

Social media needs to reach a point where customers feel that social networks

are treating both their data, and their attention with the greatest respect.

The Future of Ello

Raised $345,000 in seed funding

Raised a further $5.5m in Oct ‘14

Start a paid model which is optional for users

By purchasing a feature on Ello from time to time, you will be

able to customize your Ello experience — while supporting

an awesome ad-free social network.

Repost another User’s Posts

Private Messaging

Videos/Audio Links on Omnibar

Thank You