Everybody loves to hate Facebook. That's what brand new social network Ello is banking on, anyway – and so far, so good. Lured by the promise of exclusivity, thousands of curious punters have scrambled in recent days to get their hands on a ticket to the hottest social club on the internet. Ello is invitation only for now. Each new user is awarded five "invite codes", which they can give out to friends. Reminiscent of the recent iPhone 6 frenzy, some Ello members have sought to profit from the hype by selling the codes on eBay. The going rate is generally around $10 a pop, although one hopeful has it at $100. Ello's exclusivity is a ruse, of course. The hashtag #elloinvitecode was trending on Twitter, and it was only a matter of minutes before this writer was able to get access. Viral marketing aside, a large part of Ello's appeal, judging by commentary on other social platforms, is its clear positioning as everything that Facebook is not. The manifesto on its home page – appended with a share button, naturally – is a sobering reminder of the privacy issues foremost in consumers' minds in the post-Snowden era. "Your social network is owned by advertisers," it reads. "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." In contrast, Ello is "simple, beautiful and ad-free". It only collects data anonymously, but users can opt out of that too if they want. "We don't really see ourselves competing with Facebook at all," Ello co-founder Paul Budnitz told Fairfax Media. "We see Facebook is an advertising platform, not a social network." As Australia readies itself to pass beefed up mass surveillance laws, consumers may be hungry for alternatives to being watched online. Mr Budnitz said Ello was receiving some 30,000 invitation requests every hour, although he wouldn't disclose current user numbers. This isn't the first time a social network has positioned itself as the antidote to the corporatism of Facebook. In 2010, four university students in New York founded Diaspora, a non-profit social network based on three key principles: decentralisation of data from any one organisation; the freedom to be whoever you want to be online; and privacy, with all personal data remaining the property of users. Yet in less than two months since its launch, Ello already has more users than Diaspora, according to Curtin University media and culture lecturer Tama Leaver. Dr Leaver said the ethos behind Diaspora was "fantastic" but it let consumers down with its clunky implementation. "It's quite hard to use – very few people really spent any time there," Dr Leaver said. "It is still there but it never reached any critical mass." Unlike Diaspora, Ello will feel familiar to new users. It resembles a love child of Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus. Founded by a group of designers and artists, Ello's minimalist layout lends itself well to posting large images. The tone of its language – crucial for a social endeavour – is colloquial, even cheeky. Users are invited to filter their feeds into two groups, friends and "noise". The "About" menu leads to a page titled "WTF". If your grandparents understood what that meant, they'd probably be offended. And that's another reason Ello may take off where others have failed. Dr Leaver said history had shown that popular social networks tended to be supported by a core group of young users who stay there "until something better comes along". It happened when Friendster's core user group discovered MySpace; and it happened again when Facebook pilfered MySpace's users. Facebook has done an "excellent job" at keeping its users loyal for so long largely because of its use of apps, which keep people glued to the platform, Dr Leaver said. But Facebook is now so ubiquitous that every hip young thing and his dad is on it. "[Ello] does have the added benefit for young people that their parents aren't on it yet," Dr Leaver said. Ello is only in beta mode, and is currently light on functionality, so whether Facebook addicts, used to all the bells and whistles, will respond positively to its minimalism remains to be seen. The decision to include users in its evolution, however, could be a good way to ensure healthy growth in loyal users. A "Feature List" keeps them completely in the loop as to how it is rolling out new features. Facebook is constantly criticised for making changes to the user experience. Usually these are driven by business decisions. Rather than blindsiding its users, Ello plans to capitalise on its transparency and charge users for some features to make the site viable. "We have thousands of people writing in requesting features they would be willing to pay for," Mr Budnitz said. "For a very small amount of money we are going to sell special features that certain users may want to add to their account. Buying a feature now and then for a few dollars is a great way to support an ad-free network." The site also already has a number of branded accounts, including one advertising bicycles made by one of its founders. At present, Ello still largely reflects its design roots. It was originally built as a private network for industry insiders, but was relaunched to the public on August 7 as its popularity grew. The artists, designers and early adopters currently populating the network are likely to add an extra layer of cred – one more reason to join the trendsetters.
