Ello - Oct 4, 2014

http://www.inc.com/jeremy-quittner/paul-butnitz-talks-about-ello-and-other-subjects.html

https://ello.co/budnitz/post/F4Nwcnkjv-lwXimAk7EYPg

Many people have been asking for a "like" or "favorite" button for Ello.

We do have something planned, but it's a bit different than how other networks do it (of course). It will be coming out very soon.

"Different" is the key. Repeating the same old function is unnecessary, in my opinion. I don't understand why people like the "like."

More from that post:

Other ad-based social networks make money if you like lots of things. Each time you do, they record what you like, and that tells them more about you. The more they know about you, the more money when they sell your data to advertisers.

Because Ello doesn't have ads, we're not motivated to do anything like that.

There's nothing wrong with a quick "like"! But on Ello, but we love the idea of moving away from "counting likes" and "collecting as many followers as possible".

Ello is about quality, not quantity.

Hashtag support for searching and organizing content is an essential function, in my opinion, but the other so-called social networking actions (the counters) are unnecessary: page views, likes, forwards, followers.

https://ello.co/budnitz/post/YFXTWhnnCkgz5X3KyQEu0g

BLOCKING makes you invisible to another Ello user.

MUTING hides a user from you — so you'll never see their posts or comments.

Mute or block other users by clicking the next to their Friend and Noise buttons (on their profile page, or in search).

More features coming soon: Notifications Center, NSFW mode for adult content, sound & video file support, mobile apps — and that super amazing top-secret emoji thingy that @mk built, and that I mentioned in our last newsletter.

PS: Shout out to @mk @gv @jejacks0n @mikepack @666 @cacheflowe @jayzes and the whole @modeset crew for long nights and little sleep. Give them some love, they're the ones keeping the servers running and building new features.

Has to be an exhilarating time for the Ello developers. Something to remember, these early days.

About native mobile apps for Ello:

I can't give an eta on apps, but not long in real time. Everything seems long in internet time.

humorous image:
https://ello.co/jayzes/post/RwNo1EQeYzv6YKLt6u0OVw

Comments from others about the lazy-like feature on other sites, and, in my opinion, reasons why such a feature should not exist on community sites:

• I've been enjoying the lack. It forces more engagement than a drive-by "like." Hopefully the new system keeps that increased engagement in mind. Thanks for everything you guys are doing with ello.

• To be quite honest: I do not miss "Like" or "Favorite" button here. If I like something, I write about it.

• It's so funny how we were all at first frantically searching for a 'like' button, but then we're pleasantly surprised that it forces us to actually interact with other people.

• Discussions I've had here on Ello about the lack of a "like" button with friends have all been very positive. We appreciate that there isn't one. It forces us to slow down, enjoy viewing photos, or comments and then actually becoming more "social" on this whole "social media" thing by writing out our thoughts. Thanks for sort of twisting our arms a bit to make sure we have that opportunity!

• I'm liking the no-like system, I'm more engaged than on other SoMe off the bat.

• My vote is for no like button, mostly because I want to force myself to engage/interact with words. The like button is just so impersonal, which has made Facebook a land of impersonality, at least for me.

• it's nice that you all are being so thoughtful about this. Not having likes has created more authentic engagement. You touch fewer people maybe, but when you do touch someone it's more significant, meaningful, noticed, and appreciated I think. Like the Mies says, less is more.

• honestly - because there is no like button and we have to take the time and make a comment, ello is more personal social network. I'm not saying I don't want a like button, just stating the benefit of not having one.

• I kinda dig there's no like button right now, as many people have said already I'm sure, it encourages actual interaction which takes more time than clicking "like" but that's part of what I enjoy here.. thinking about my interactions more carefully.

• To my surprise, the lack of a "like" button, which has come to be expected in social networking, has been one of my favorite features of ello. Without the ability to just click a button and move on, any feedback has to come in the form of a comment, which I feel is driving more personal engagement and creating new conversations here that wouldn't happen elsewhere.

• I can't stand "like" or "+1" or buttons. It's vacuous and vapid. If people like or hate what I say, what's wrong with engaging in conversation like human beings? What would be cool is if people could choose whether their posts and comments were likeable.

• I'm glad that Ello doesn't have a like button. It's the penny of engagement. I'd rather have a post with no comments than a post with 1,000 likes.

• I know that I'm not the only one who would really appreciate if you skipped the competition-aspect of a Like. I love Ello for not being like others, you do not even see if someone you follow (still) follows back. This is just great to break normal following-psychology.

• I have enjoyed having to comment to relay my like of a post, picture or link. It is defiantly a more personal experience.

http://www.inc.com/jeremy-quittner/paul-butnitz-talks-about-ello-and-other-subjects.html

You've taken $435,000 in venture capital money, which suggests to some an eventual exit strategy and possible change to how you want to run your business. What about that?

First of all, let's talk about FreshTracks Capital. It's a Vermont-based fund, and they are tiny and they only invest in Vermont-based companies. And Vermont is the only state without billboards, they're prohibited here. The partners running this, Lee Bouyea and Cairn Cross, well, Cairn cruises over on his motorcycle and brews maple beer in his backyard. Basically they are are my neighbors, and the vast majority of Ello stock is still owned by the seven founders. There is no exit strategy. We are building a profitable company, and that is our goal.

Some critics say you'll ultimately become more like Facebook as the company scales, and mine and sell customer data. What do you say to that?

We're not collecting the data, so we can't monetize it. We are very clear about what we are doing. People are saying we are "Facebook-killers", but honestly we do not have a problem with Facebook in and of itself. We don’t think of them as competition. They are an advertising platform, and we are a social network. They are run for the customer, who is the advertiser. But we don’t have advertisers, and we are run for the people who run the network. We are going to make plenty of money doing things our own way. Given the number of people who have come over to Ello in droves, we are the future of how the best part of the Internet will be monetized. Our goal from the start has not been to take over the world, and that is to our advantage. We don’t need everyone in the world to be on Ello to be successful.

#ello