Ello, if you wanna break free from Facebook

You are anonymous and free to wade into all the stuff other anonymous souls upload on this 'simple, beautiful & ad-free' online forum

Each age has its carriage, its expression and its social network. Given how short an age is in the world of technology, it is surprising we are not surprised yet with that we are still on Facebook. Ello, which in its manifesto is viscerally anti-Facebook, is another attempt at weaning you away from the onslaught of the blue-and-white tyranny of sponsored pages and promotional likes.

Ello, still in the beta stage, sells itself on three propositions: One, you're no product, the way Facebook makes you one by selling you to advertisers.

Two, you're no product, the way Facebook sells you products as if you were another consumption machine.

Some other socialites

• Diaspora (since 2010): The user-owned network that claimed a million users by March this year is now shifting focus to a photo software that purportedly makes sharing images easier. And I was feeling disappointed that my request for membership was never accepted.
• Path (since 2010): The photo-sharing network has got millions in funding and users across the world but has been marred by a controversy about leakage of personal data. It is still no patch on Facebook.
• App.net (since 2012): A user and developer subscription and crowd funding based microblogging adfree site that looks like Twitter, it hit 100,000 users last year and plans a service in which users would pay for more premium features.

Three, you're no product, the way Facebook has now made it impossible for you to have an identity of your choice, limiting your choice to decide what you're online, away from the real-world monitors.

What started as a private group with the creator Paul Budnitz's friends morphed early this year into an invitation-only social network claiming to liberate you from Facebook. Ello's interface is reminiscent of the DOS age - black, grey and white. An innocent appearing but evocatively sinister black circle with a pulchritudinous white smile greets you on the home page. The font is equally old-age sci-fi. There are just two classes - 'Friends' and 'Noise'. Those you care about, friends or followers doesn't matter, become the first category. The rest you can dump in the bin called 'Noise'.

The Spartan look and feel of Ello is discomposing initially, as we have become used to the barrage of advertisements, news feeds, shared assorted articles from around the world and the maudlin, mundane happenings of our friends. With time though the simple layout's appeal grows on you. On Ello, you are anonymous and free to wade into all the stuff other anonymous souls put up - be their 'Noise', that is.

"Simple, beautiful & ad-free" is Ello's slogan - not the first attempt at bringing down Facebook (see box). The social network's membership peaked around September in this year when it touched a million at a rate of about 30,000-35,000 new members an hour. But that was probably driven more by the gay community's stand against Facebook's rigid policy of forcing its users to reveal their real selves than an original excitement for Ello. As The Guardian has reported, the rate of new users has fallen drastically since then.

A lot of lesbians, gay, bisexuals and transvestites got pissed off with Facebook's recent rigid policy change of not allowing a secondary online identity. A lot of them flocked to Ello, and for a moment it seemed this one would make it against Facebook. Moreover, reports suggest that only a fraction of the users remain active on Ello.

"Many other social networks (like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, Instagram, etc. etc.) started out ad-free, then suddenly switched gears ... Quite frankly, were we to break this commitment, we would lose most of the Ello community," say the creators on the website. To make money, the plan is to charge you for adding extra features to your profile. Ello might survive but killing Facebook seems difficult when a lot of us kill time by looking up what Facebook tells us we should be looking up.