Dive Brief:
- Ello, a social network that's focused on the anonymity of its users, announced Thursday that it has hired Rene Alegria as its first CMO. Alegria is the founder and former CEO of Mamiverse, a site catering to Hispanic mothers.
- Last fall, Facebook received backlash in the LGBT community for not allowing drag queens to use their stages names, and Ello was touted as an alternative. The site has promised no advertising or data collection on its users, but the company has since failed to drum up much publicity.
- Ello reportedly plans to monetize itself by charging users for special features. Alegria told Marketing Dive in an email interview that the company is "preparing for a huge launch of our mobile app in the coming months, so much of what we’re doing is showing how the creative people already on Ello are changing the world."
Dive Insight:
Ello is currently an invitation-only social site, but will be ending that format in a month, CEO Paul Budnitz told the Wall Street Journal. The site is serious about the 'no ads' rule, going so far as to file paperwork to operate as a public benefit corporation, meaning that Ello's purpose is to "produce a benefit for society as a whole." That likely means that marketers will not be able to work with the site.
"Marketing’ has to get creative again. Rather than lean on algorithms and automated data mining, Ello is showcasing this creativity, being wacky, and having fun. In so many ways, we’re a throwback to an era that relied on real talent and storytelling," Alegria said. So while it's unlikely to ever "take down" Facebook, the popularity of private messaging could allow Ello to create a niche for itself.
Ello reportedly reached the one million user mark in October, and added another 250,000 users last week.