Ello: what you need to know about the 'anti-Facebook' social network
Fast-growing new site Ello promises 'beauty, simplicity and transparency' – and no advertising

Interest in Ello, a social network that tech experts are calling the "anti-Facebook" exploded this week as hundreds of thousands of people requested membership to the new service.
Ello, the invention of toy designer Paul Budnitz, aims to be an "ethical" alternative to social networking services with no advertising, no exploitation of user data and no manipulation of members' news feeds.
If its early growth continues, Ello could come to rival existing services. But does a world with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ really need another social network?
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What is Ello?
The clearest statement of what Ello hopes to achieve comes from its own manifesto: "Your social network is owned by advertisers," it says. "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."
It continues: "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."
How do you join?
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The network is invitation only, but prospective users can request an invitation on the Ello website or ask a friend who has already joined to invite them.
How many people have signed up?
According to BetaBeat, requests to join the site have accelerated swiftly from 4,000 to 27,000 per hour. That's over 600,000 requests per day.
How does it work?
Once you are a member, you get access to a site that the Daily Mirror describes as a hybrid of Tumblr and Facebook. The main news feed is separated into two separate areas: Friends and Noise.
Friends offers a Facebook-like feed of full-sized updates from your favourite people. Noise acts more like Twitter, with updates from organisations and people you know less well in a compressed grid-based layout.
If you decide that you are no longer keen on what a friend is posting you can move them across to your Noise feed. Practically this means that you have access to everything that is being posted, rather than being fed a curated selection of information by an algorithm, like on Facebook.
Will Ello remain ad-free?
If it is true to its word, Ello will protect its users' data and never accept any advertising. Some commentators have suggested that this will be difficult, particularly after the team behind Ello accepted $435,000 in venture capital. As The Guardian's Ruby Murray notes, such investors "tend to want their money back, big and fast".
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocrat
Feature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
-
Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?
Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
-
Government shuts down amid partisan deadlock
Feature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
-
Is the UK government getting too close to Big Tech?
Today’s Big Question US-UK tech pact, supported by Nvidia and OpenAI, is part of Silicon Valley drive to ‘lock in’ American AI with US allies
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
South Korea's divide over allowing Google Maps
Talking Points The country is one of few modern democracies where the app doesn't work
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust ruling
Speed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
Is AI killing the internet?
Talking Point AI-powered browsers and search engines are threatening the death of the open web
-
What's Linda Yaccarino's legacy? And what's next for X?
Today's Big Question An 'uncertain future' in the age of TikTok
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two years
Speed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X
Speed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'