What’s the Deal With Ello?

 #QOTD: Would you pay $10 a month for Ello?

Look the bottom line is that Ello raised venture capital. The investors are looking for a return on their investment, so they’re going to have to figure out a business model. So the question becomes, if they’re not going to sell your info to advertisers, are they going to charge a fee to use the service? Now look they may come up with something totally new and innovative, and God bless Ello if they do. I’m rooting for everybody all the time.

My big thing is that **people don’t care if you’re selling their data**. We actually want targeted ads. When I’m in the market for another pair of Nikes, I WANT to see ads for them. Now there are those of you who disagree, but the data shows it. We’ll take them when they go from ads to content. 

So here’s the thing:

1. I think the way Ello is financially structured has vulnerabilities.

2. This has happened before with things like Diaspora. It didn’t work.

3. I’m not in love with the actual product, but I’m glad they’re moving and innovating.

I’m not Nostradamus. I like to make my call when I actually see something happening, and so I think it’s too early to say that, but my intuition says they’re going to eventually charge, which is going to turn a lot of users off.