[iDC] Ello--Alternative to Facebook

[Tom Slee]

A related happening: I've always felt that of the various "carsharing"
startups, BlaBlaCar has been one I could support. Its operational model  is
built on drivers not making a profit, but offsetting a portion of expenses,
and this keeps it clear of the kind of regulation-dodging double-speak that
Lyft, Uber, and Airbnb have embraced.

But then in July BlaBlaCar raised
<http://www.blablacar.com/blog/thank-you-eight-million-members> $100M in VC
funding. I had a brief exchange with one of the employees, who felt this
would not change their modus operandi and it is just a tool to get them
where they want to go. I did put an alternative view---that as an
inevitable consequence of the VC model it will all end in tears (and riches
for a few)---but it is difficult not to feel like an embittered cynic when
doing so. One thing I'm hoping to get from DL14 is to be able to respond
better to this person than I did.

Tom

On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 11:20 AM, Steve Rhodes <srhodes at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ello has taken $435,000 in VC funding so far
>
>
> http://betabeat.com/2014/09/ello-founder-says-vc-funding-is-no-big-secret-thats-silly/
>
> But the biggest problem is it seems pretty much a ghost town so far
>
> Lots of people joining, but not many posting or commenting so far.
>
> It is prettier than facebook, but while facebook has plenty of faults it
> also has features people use (and their friends using them):
>
>  There are a lot of progressives as uncritically excited by ello as
> techcrunch is by whatever the newest startup is.
>
>  I've seen too many new things come and go to not be skeptical.
>
>  A facebook alternative would be good, but even if ello or something else
> does well it progressives will still have to use Facebook if they want to
> actually reach people.
>
> I'm actually more hopeful about the relaunch of http://upcoming.org by
> Andy Baio (who pointed out Elmo's VC funding) as open platform in addition
> to Facebook events.
>
> He raised over $100,000 on kickstarter
>
> http://mashable.com/2014/06/01/upcoming-org-founder-i-wont-sell-out-again/
>
> Groups and individuals will still need to use Facebook events, but
> hopefully they will also post to upcoming.org as well as their own
> website (not everyone is on Facebook and even if you are it is easy to miss
> events if they aren't in your network)
>
> --
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Steve Rhodes - photojournalist
>
> http://www.corbisimages.com/photographer/steve-rhodes
>
> http://www.demotix.com/users/steve-rhodes/profile
>
>
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