It’s an interesting thing how a social network starts to expand and develop internationally by having the following statement:
“Your social network is owned by advertisers. Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold … We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life. You are not a product.”
Let’s start from the hypothesis that Facebook would have tried to be an ad free social network (just as ELLO declared), do you honestly believe it would have been where it is now? Do you think it would have developed this well? That their Messenger and other similar products would have been born? In fact, would the users have been willing to pay even a small amount like 1 euro a month to help Facebook? Exactly.
Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads.
That also means that someone has to keep those servers alive, pay the wages and other things that in the end the final user enjoys. It’s understandable, if you don’t want to pay from your own pocket in order to enjoy something, you still have to pay somehow. Brands pay with money, you pay with data. Fair enough?
You are the product that’s bought and sold.
In the end, no one is forcing you to get involved. No one will put a gun to your head if you don’t log in to Facebook today or if you don’t post a photo on Instagram. You choose to be the product.
We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life.
And all of this costs money (connect, create, celebrate). Money that the users are not willing to retrieve from their pockets because they’re already used to getting everything for free. The internet is free because brands pay for it. How would an internet in which brands no longer invest be like? Well…how many users would pay 1 euro per Google search or 1 euro for every song listened to on Youtube or 1 euro for every picture uploaded on Instagram? You got the point.
And if ELLO is ad free, I wonder how long will it last on the market? Who will be paying for those servers? Because once it grows and develops it will demand some serious resources. Resources that have to be bought. How many will be willing to pay for an ad free social network?
So, if you want to “connect, create and celebrate life” pay your dues and if you don’t want to, at least let others do it.
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