Mr. Budnitz sounds pretty douchey to me. I can't find the source now, but I also had read some piece about how this guy's bike company ripped off their design from another company. That sounds pretty cool, though. I made an account a couple weeks ago, but haven't signed on since. The site seems sorta cool but I just don't see any compelling reasons to use to it.“As you can imagine, I’ve had, like, every VC in the nation in my inbox trying to invest in Ello,” he said.
Budnitz and the other Ello co-founders are so adamant about this idea that they’ve converted Ello into a public benefit corporation in Delaware. This means the business still aims to make money, but prioritizes and provides “a benefit to society” alongside its obligation to maximize profits for shareholders.
That's the thing. The only Facebook killer is no Facebook. Nobody likes Facebook or what is it, they don't want an alternative that's better than it, they just use it because it's a convenient way to keep in touch with people. If it totally disappeared, no one would mind. If something filled the void after, they'd all go to that no matter what the quality. It's a product of convenience, not the best option. The perfect network could arrive, and there still wouldn't be an exodus to it.
I don't understand this drive for a new social site, as if that's the most obvious answer to Facebook. Don't like Facebook? Awesome, go back to interacting with friends in the traditional ways. Why do I need a newer platform for that?
I realize I'm totally late replying on this, but I don't agree with your logic. Just because someone doesn't like Facebook doesn't mean there couldn't be some other platform that they do like. No need to stop using social networks because the current biggest one sucks. If no one ever decided to go against the grain and start using a better platform just because the rest of their friends weren't on it, no one would have ever moved on from Friendster, MySpace, whatever earlier ones I'm missing.
I think you might have misunderstood what I was saying. I wasn't saying "stop using social networks because the biggest one sucks." I was suggesting that the social network is in and of itself unnecessary, and it's just been marketed to us as a staple of our lives rather than an add-on. I grew up without social networks. Hell, spent half my life without internet. Subsequently, I remember life without them. It was a lot like life with them, only with less corporate interests directly watching and commenting on what I do. Furthermore, I've seen a steady succession of networks such as the ones you mentioned rise and crash. Myspace, Friendster, Google Plus (hah), now Facebook, soon Ello. What does it tell you that the internet keeps on spawning and then discarding one social network after another? To me, it implies a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the notion of the Social Network: there's an itch that such networks just can't scratch. Myspace is for losers, man, Facebook is where it's at. Facebook is stale, come to Ello, we won't spy on you as much. Ello doesn't have enough dedicated users, use FriendBot. All of this growing from the root notion that somehow a social network must exist for our social lives to be complete. But that's bunk. So when you say: it rather sidesteps my point. Maybe it's time to go against the grain and just discard the idea that social networks are vital to cultivating friendships.If no one ever decided to go against the grain and start using a better platform just because the rest of their friends weren't on it, no one would have ever moved on from Friendster, MySpace, whatever earlier ones I'm missing