Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) may face some challenge, in the distant future, from Ello a social networking site, which is receiving up to 31,000 requests an hour from people wishing to join its platform. The founder of this site is Paul Budnitz, and he initially designed it to keep in touch with his 90 friends. He is the owner of a bike shop and resides in the State of Vermont in the U.S. The site was opened for all on August 7.
Is it anti-Facebook?
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been criticized on numerous occasions for the advertising, which has led to the frustrations among its users. The company has also been accused of selling user data. There is a common belief among experts that the company might later on introduce charges for making certain features usable.
The design of Ello is minimalist and seems lesser user-friendly compared to more established networks in the first look. Â “We’re learning as we go but we have a very strong tech crew and back end,” founder Paul Budnitz told the BBC. “It’s in beta and its buggy and it does weird stuff – and it’s all being fixed as quickly as we can.”
The name given to it by others – ‘anti-Facebook’ does flatter Mr.Budnitz, but he disagrees with them and says that his service is not a competitor of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), as Facebook is an ad platform, Ello is a network.
How Ello plans to make money?<
If Ello is not going to sell ads like Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) then how is it planning to make money? Budnitz resolved this query saying that the access to features will be a paid, and this is how they plan to make money. He added that the features will be sold for few dollars just like the app store.
The features undergoing development will be displayed on the page and can be checked by the members, who can then register their interest.
James McQuivey, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester, believes that the key to success since historic times has been a free-to-use network.
“Over all the other social media experiences from Whatsapp to Instagram to Pinterest – the reason they work is because they’re free,” he told the BBC. McQuivey added that though advertising is believed to be irritating and annoying at times, but the attitude of people may not be as much negative as it is thought to be.
