30/09/2014
Ello, Ello - Two Days In, the Hottest New Social Network is Pretty Dull
Ever since the rise and rise of Facebook, we've seen one company after another come up to try and become the next world conquering social network. Ello is the latest in a long line of platforms that have been described as the next big thing but judging by our first brush with the network, Zuckerberg and company have nothing to worry about yet.
Ello was created last year as a "private" social network, which can only be joined with an invitation. If that reminds you of Google+, then you're not the only person making the comparison. Like Google+, Ello also features great design - it's even better looking in fact, and uses a lot of whitespace to create a friendly, open display. Unfortunately, it's also a bit of a ghost town, that's only now seeing a spurt in interest. And the only thing that people seem to be able to agree on is that Ello looks great.
That's because Ello was initially built by a small group of artists and designers who wanted to share their work and to connect with a closed circle of friends. Over time this grew until the company launched a public version of the network.
Actually using Ello comes with a steep learning curve. Of course that's because Ello is still in "beta", which is admittedly one of the most abused words in the technology space today. Features are being added and functionality is still being fine-tuned.
Using Ello
Adding friends means going to the Discover tab, then clicking on the text where it says "Search", and then typing a name. Search looks like a title and not a field to click and the rest of the links also seem to be designed with aesthetics instead of functionality in mind.
If someone you know is already on Ello (which is admittedly pretty unlikely right now) then you can view their profile and click on either "Friend" or "Noise" next to their name to start following them.
