We'll keep this short. In March a new social network launched promising the opposite business model to Facebook - i.e. Not selling ads based on user data and instead relying on, perhaps, paid premium features to keep going. Ello then sunk without trace until, in the last 24/48 hrs or so, activity on the site completely blew up. And this is a pretty basic social network with the bare minimum of features. Why? A combination of factors.
Perhaps it was Facebook's trenchant stance against LGBT users having both a real name and 'persona' name. Ello got traction with the LGBT community after Facebook disabled the accounts of some drag artists who used their performance names instead of their 'real' names. Musicians with stage names have also complained.
Or perhaps it was famous drag queen Ru Paul tweeting about it?
No-one quite knows. But as of today most of your friends will be asking their other friends how to get an invite to the invite-only network to secure their coveted user name.
On Ello, as on Twitter, real names are not required.
But there are downsides to the network. There are a lack of privacy controls. It's not possible to block someone who is abusive. But Ello has already e-mailed users saying these features are coming.
We've seen Facebook alternatives, like Diaspora, come and go. Or ones like Google+ come then fall flat.
Ello might be onto something more organic. Diaspora was certainly too geeky and probably way too early. Perhaps it's Ello's time?
Today co-founder Paul Budnitz said they will remain 'Ad-Free and Porn Friendly'.
This does of course mean they are unlikely to attract formal, institutional venture capital. But what the heck. It may end up going places.
Right now the jury is out on whether it has a future. But getting this much traction in such a short time means it's about to get somewhere, even if taking on the mighty Facebook and Twitter is a losing game at this point.
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