We don t consider Facebook to be a competitor. We consider them to be an advertising platform more than a social network.
— Paul Budnitz, an Ello co-founder, tells Bloomberg Businessweek that Ello s business model — offering the main social network for free, then charging for certain features — makes it different from Facebook. To me the Internet is becoming one big billboard. Everyone always seems to be building a new app and platform and the way they are going to support it is through advertising, he said.
Ello, which among other things doesn t require real names and calls itself simple, beautiful and ad-free, has risen in popularity since it launched in July and in the wake of Facebook s decision to stick to its policy of requiring real names (of drag queens and others). Ello is invite-only for now, and Budnitz isn t particularly concerned about its demographics or sheer numbers — although the social network s website says it has a waiting list of tens of thousands of people. We are not trying to build something that is for everybody, he said.
Screenshot from Ello
