Ello, a new startup social media network, is gaining more users since its launch on summer and is now being considered as an alternative for anti-Facebook users. The site receives 45,000 requests per hour.
Paul Budnitz, co-founder of the social network, was able to raise $435,000 through FreshTracks Capital. People can sign up on the network as long as they were invited by existing users that are mostly premium artists and designers. One can also request for an invitation. He came up with the concept of Ello while talking with Lucian Föhr and Todd Berger of graphic design company Berger & Föhr. All of them felt that social networks are not fun anymore, BusinessWeek reported.
Ello started as a small network of 100 people made possible by software consultancy company Mode Set. Shortly after launching the service, the developers started receiving requests to join the network so they decided to make it public. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission formally acknowledged Ello as an incorporated enterprise in 2013.
Ello's manifesto states: "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."
The new social network has attracted more users because it doesn't require people to use their real names. Recently, Facebook started requiring users to use their real names for their profile pages and started deleting profile pages of drag queens who didn't comply with the real name policy.
"Yes, we've been hearing about the Facebook drama too over the last few days," Budnitz told the Daily Dot. "Ello welcomes the LGBTQ community and we're very excited to see so many people moving over!"
However, he clarified that the company is not anti-Facebook, even if most of its new users are.
"We put such a big stake in the ground, and if we change that, people would leave. Ello's aim also isn't to be the anti-Facebook," Budnitz added.
