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.

#ello