[Jason]

Yeah, I know. It's just another social media site that will probably bite the dust but according to figures, they are processing 160,000 requests an hour.

I have three invite codes if anyone wants one, message me

[Ryan]

Apparently they're based in the building next to me. They've got the most pretentious office I've ever seen. Fishbowl facing the street filled with people wearing really tight pants and abstract art.

[Jason]

yeah, it's definitely very hipster but I'm curious to see what (if any) of the fuss is about.

[Jason]

All my invites are gone now.

[Capella]

If anyone else gets any invites and has one to toss my way, I'm nosy. I love adopting new social media just to mess with it and to further my research agendas.

[torifile]

I'll take one if anyone has any left.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Capella If anyone else gets any invites and has one to toss my way, I'm nosy. I love adopting new social media just to mess with it and to further my research agendas.

PM with an email address.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by torifile I'll take one if anyone has any left.

My last one. PM me with an address.

[Jason]

Anyone who has an invite from someone else. be aware the site seems buggy as hell - especially trying to get your profile image and banner to save. It took me three attempts, I left it a while and then came back. It had saved correctly by then.

[Jason]

I think it's going to be Ello and goodbye for me. The whole place is just full of bearded hipsters posting pictures of designer furniture, Cannondale bikes and Swedish Interior design. It's absolutely beyond pretentious.

Feel ashamed to have even started a thread about it now.

[Eugene]

App.net 2.0?

Nothing wrong with Cannondale bikes. I do have invites as well, but I don't really see this gaining steam...

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Jason I think it's going to be Ello and goodbye for me. The whole place is just full of bearded hipsters posting pictures of designer furniture, Cannondale bikes and Swedish Interior design. It's absolutely beyond pretentious. Feel ashamed to have even started a thread about it now.

I walk past their office every morning and it's filled with bearded hipsters surrounded by designer furniture, Cannondale bikes and Swedish minimalist design. I'm not surprised.

Boulder: 26 square miles surrounded by reality.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Jason I think it's going to be Ello and goodbye for me. The whole place is just full of bearded hipsters posting pictures of designer furniture, Cannondale bikes and Swedish Interior design. It's absolutely beyond pretentious. Feel ashamed to have even started a thread about it now.

Originally Posted by Ryan I walk past their office every morning and it's filled with bearded hipsters surrounded by designer furniture, Cannondale bikes and Swedish minimalist design. I'm not surprised.

What do you expect from such a thing?

"I visited a hospital, and there were nothing but doctors there!"

[Ryan]

They just put up frosted glass, should've taken a photo last week.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Eugene App.net 2.0? Nothing wrong with Cannondale bikes. I do have invites as well, but I don't really see this gaining steam...

No, I've got a Cannondale bike too. Bought it in 2008 - It's called 'The Bad Boy'. Not sure if they still do that range.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppj2i8yldq...40940.jpg?dl=0

I didn't mean to knock the bike company.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Eugene App.net 2.0? Nothing wrong with Cannondale bikes. I do have invites as well, but I don't really see this gaining steam...

http://www.jasonnewton.net/blog/2014/10/1/ello

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Ryan I walk past their office every morning and it's filled with bearded hipsters surrounded by designer furniture, Cannondale bikes and Swedish minimalist design. I'm not surprised. Boulder: 26 square miles surrounded by reality.

Is that where they're based? I just assumed it was in some trendy part of New York.
Clearly, if it takes off, they'll be 'relocating' pretty soon.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Jason Is that where they're based? I just assumed it was in some trendy part of New York. Clearly, if it takes off, they'll be 'relocating' pretty soon.

I think they're based in Vermont, at least that's what one of their investors told me (one of their investors also invested in the company I work for).

[tomoe]

Don't know how Cannondale got brought into this because they sell an awesome entry level race bike for cheap (CAAD10).

The shitbox Public Bikes townies (or some stupid fixed gear) are more apt for the stereotype.

[Wrao]

Don't think it's gonna succeed outright or have any hopes in upsetting Facebook. But it might find its niche regardless. There will be a hot and cold trendy factor to it and if the right crowds congregate there it might have some staying power.

The big thing, I think, working against it is that its trying to target the demographic that made Facebook successful without realizing that this demographic has largely moved on from FB and really 'profile based' networking in general. Sure they can talk about being 'the un-facebook' until they are blue in the face(Book) but it's just talk, and if the past 10 years have shown us anything it's that the best social networks have just about all been somewhat 'organically' formed through finding a niche and working with it and the ones that try and sketch out too clearly what they are 'about', tend to get swept away.

Meanwhile though the other hurdle they have is that FB is actually really good. Yeah, a lot of people hate it, mostly original FB users who have kind of grown out of it and/or never put in any real effort towards maintaining a sensible friends list in the first place(to where they -- 6-8 years later wind up with hundreds of douchebags they barely know). But from a nuts and bolts perspective, Facebook has done a damn good job keeping the platform running, adapting to changes, introducing new features that users like and perhaps most importantly, turning back on features that users hate and/or working with users to find compromise. Which isn't to say they're spotless or anything, they have their dirt and their problems and whatever but they're not bad enough to be upset by a company that *needs* to say things like 'we're the un-facebook' to even gain any relevance.


But, that doesn't mean Ello will just disappear or flop completely, it just needs to find a niche that is unique and that people are comfortable using it for, and/or it needs to be fun. You look at every other successful social network today. Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Snap Chat, Tumblr, even stuff like OkCupid/Tinder/Hot or Not and Reddit and they all have a fun factor that can't be understated. You look at the less successful ones, App dot net, Ping, Google+, and you see lots of forward facing promises of features and usage scenarios but a noticeable lack of a fun factor.

Oh and another thing. If anyone doubts that it's about fun factor, look at Twitter. Twitter is one of the most incompetent companies I've ever seen in modern tech. They consistently, time and time again release buggy BS software and updates, features no one wants, ridiculous design changes every few months, and seemingly have no overall guidance or idea of what they are doing. You would have to try to fail harder than they do at the nuts and bolts of running a service. But the concept of the site is so brilliant and the fun factor could not be any higher with how many people have taken to the format for dumb jokes and inanity that we all put up with it. (and please don't go searching for my post about Twitter when it first came out on AN, I thought it would fail and I couldn't have been any more wrong, but it's through seeing that success that I have a bit more confidence in my thoughts on ello)


Oh and meanwhile, the 40 and older set friggin *loves* Facebook and they are having a great time on there all around, so you know, there's that.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Wrao Don't think it's gonna succeed outright or have any hopes in upsetting Facebook. But it might find its niche regardless. There will be a hot and cold trendy factor to it and if the right crowds congregate there it might have some staying power. The big thing, I think, working against it is that its trying to target the demographic that made Facebook successful without realizing that this demographic has largely moved on from FB and really 'profile based' networking in general. Sure they can talk about being 'the un-facebook' until they are blue in the face(Book) but it's just talk, and if the past 10 years have shown us anything it's that the best social networks have just about all been somewhat 'organically' formed through finding a niche and working with it and the ones that try and sketch out too clearly what they are 'about', tend to get swept away. Meanwhile though the other hurdle they have is that FB is actually really good. Yeah, a lot of people hate it, mostly original FB users who have kind of grown out of it and/or never put in any real effort towards maintaining a sensible friends list in the first place(to where they -- 6-8 years later wind up with hundreds of douchebags they barely know). But from a nuts and bolts perspective, Facebook has done a damn good job keeping the platform running, adapting to changes, introducing new features that users like and perhaps most importantly, turning back on features that users hate and/or working with users to find compromise. Which isn't to say they're spotless or anything, they have their dirt and their problems and whatever but they're not bad enough to be upset by a company that *needs* to say things like 'we're the un-facebook' to even gain any relevance. But, that doesn't mean Ello will just disappear or flop completely, it just needs to find a niche that is unique and that people are comfortable using it for, and/or it needs to be fun. You look at every other successful social network today. Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Snap Chat, Tumblr, even stuff like OkCupid/Tinder/Hot or Not and Reddit and they all have a fun factor that can't be understated. You look at the less successful ones, App dot net, Ping, Google+, and you see lots of forward facing promises of features and usage scenarios but a noticeable lack of a fun factor. Oh and another thing. If anyone doubts that it's about fun factor, look at Twitter. Twitter is one of the most incompetent companies I've ever seen in modern tech. They consistently, time and time again release buggy BS software and updates, features no one wants, ridiculous design changes every few months, and seemingly have no overall guidance or idea of what they are doing. You would have to try to fail harder than they do at the nuts and bolts of running a service. But the concept of the site is so brilliant and the fun factor could not be any higher with how many people have taken to the format for dumb jokes and inanity that we all put up with it. (and please don't go searching for my post about Twitter when it first came out on AN, I thought it would fail and I couldn't have been any more wrong, but it's through seeing that success that I have a bit more confidence in my thoughts on ello) Oh and meanwhile, the 40 and older set friggin *loves* Facebook and they are having a great time on there all around, so you know, there's that.

Good post, Wrao. Thanks.

[Ryan]

So, this failed miserably.

[GOLDFRAPP]

Invite codes:

talk-escape-splashing-58b54b
no-sort-conversation-36167c
diamonds-dreadfully-bf7276

Let me know if you need more.

[Jason]

Ello offering me invite codes almost daily now. Get the feeling the buzz is dying down already - and it's still not officially open. I blame the hipsters- they've already ruined it.

[kieran]

Doesn't matter. I've got my username. I'm good. (Even though I'll more than likely never ever use it)

[GOLDFRAPP]

Same here: I just registered my desired username, logged out, and haven't logged back in ever since. And that was over a month ago.

Yet another social flop of an app.

Next!

[Jason]

If you like the following: Swedish designer furniture, custom frame mountain bikes, hand-crafted wooden pencil boxes and endlessly posted logos based on variations of the Kabel font, then you'll feel at home on Ello.

If that's not your thing, don't bother with it.

[psmith2.0]

Well, it got some new funding, so it's still hanging on and sticking it to Facebook.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Well, it got some new funding, so it's still hanging on and sticking it to Facebook.

Yeah, I was surprised to see that - especially how they've gone out of their way to emphasize that when they're sold off - the buyers still won't be able to have ads or monetize the data/ It all sounds good but three years down the road, someone will find some loop-hole.

That's assuming Ello is even a success. They definitely need to loose all that hipster shit. That's a real turn-off.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Jason Yeah, I was surprised to see that - especially how they've gone out of their way to emphasize that when they're sold off - the buyers still won't be able to have ads or monetize the data/ It all sounds good but three years down the road, someone will find some loop-hole. That's assuming Ello is even a success. They definitely need to loose all that hipster shit. That's a real turn-off.

One of my coworkers logged on again yesterday while we were discussing the funding news. His feed is now mostly semi-naked women. There's hope.