A few months ago, What’s New On The Net had briefly mentioned talked of the proposed launch of a social network. It’s still at a “closed” stage but Ello, the new social network is being talked about as a “perfect counterfoil” to the world number one Facebook (well, at least in the media).

You cannot simply register to join this new social network, you have to be invited. Which you can ask for by sending them an email.Or know an Ello member who can then be requested to add your name.

Here’s the Ello manifesto which gives you a glimpse of this new social network’s ethos:

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 partnership.

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.

Actually, Ello was created by a band of artists & designers as a private social network, but over time, got so popular that its designers built a public version. The stress of this new social network, besides privacy, is also on having an ad-free network created by a small group of artists and designers.

Ello’s take on ads:

Collecting and selling your personal data, reading your posts to your friends, and mapping your social connections for profit is both creepy and unethical. Under the guise of offering a “free” service, users pay a high price in intrusive advertising and lack of privacy.

We also think ads are tacky, that they insult our intelligence and that we’re better without them.

Ello is free to use. It says it will occasionally offer special features to users. If they like ’em, users can “support Ello by paying a very small amount of money to add that feature to your Ello account.” (ah, ha, the revenue part)

The new social network is the work of designer, creator Paul Budnitz.

…& according to this report in The Daily Dot, Ello has attracted the attention of the LGBTQ community, who are quite cheesed off by FB’s real name policy.

You may also want to read: Pay $9000 to become members of this new social networking Site called Netropolitan

Image Credit: Ello

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