Ello - Early Impressions

There is a new social network out there called "Ello." It's different from other networks in that it is free of ads and commits not to use our personal information as a data product. Right now, the network is invite only. 

Yesterday, I signed up for Ello. Here are my first impressions. The instructions and naming conventions are very straightforward. When I first logged in, I was very confused about this site since it is very different from other social networking sites I have seen. However, much of my confusion was quickly cleared up as I saw a link labeled "WTF" which has more information about Ello.

The categories of connections are fairly simple. There are only two: friends and noise. Without even reading the details of what they each are, it's fairly easy to infer their meanings. With all the complexity of having several groups and lists on other networks, I can definitely appreciate that. (This is not to say that I do not appreciate the options of being able to share different information with several different groups, but keeping up with who is in what group and what should be shared can become a project in itself.)

Ello calls itself "A Simple, beautiful, and ad-free social network." Thus far, I think this description is perfect!

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