“Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity,” Mark Zuckerberg said with a self-entitled authority on the matter back in 2010. His words were directed to those who don’t use their real names on their Facebook profiles, the giant social-media network he created.
I always believe that just because you have children, it doesn’t mean you are automatically considered a great parent. Zuckerberg put his rich foot on his inexperienced silly mouth and offended a great deal of his followers who felt threatened by his policies about identity. It is one thing to have a rule about something, but it is a terribly mistake to judge others about their integrity if their identity is part of this rule — especially when you are that young.
Yes, he has created a great social-media platform, but Zuckerberg’s arrogance has downgraded him for ever being referred to as a great man. And when Facebook messed around with the drag queens, drag kings, performers, artist and the “anonymous” survivors of the world, they ended up learning that you can’t force people to be who they don’t want to be, and if you do, they just exit as quick as they entered.
So, the gay Facebook exodus started, and Ello, the new kid on the block, seized the moment.
“Ello welcomes the LGBT community and we’re very excited to see so many people moving over!” Paul Budnitz, one of the creators of Ello, told the Daily Dot. Making sure that everybody understood where he stands on the identity issue, Budnitz continued, “You don’t have to use your ‘real name’ to be on Ello. We encourage people to be whoever they want to be.”
Is it any wonder why an enormous number of gay sisters heard the efforts of activist Sister Roma, and we went to see what Ello is all about? After all, we do enjoy getting new usernames and passwords, don’t we?
Besides being ad-free and accessible by invite only, Ello gives its members a certain excitement mixed with frustration, since it is still very new and not all the features are working 100 percent. Omnibar is a black bar that you use to post content and @ mention people. Forget about liking photos and statuses, there isn’t a “like” button, perhaps a smart way to make people start a conversation? Plus, there’s no need to send friend requests because Ello works more like a Twitter where you follow and get followers. You can choose to select people as friends or “noise,” and if you categorize people as noise, they won’t find out … I guess!
Personally, what I really like about Ello is the feeling of freshness. There is a certain cool, calm and relaxed vibe that is very different from the out-of-control speed of Facebook. I still enjoy Facebook, but I dislike Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t like to feel like a product, and when Zuckerberg’s social-media network issued a lame apology about the LGBTQ issue, it really emphasized how perhaps a David and Goliath cloud passed by their heads.
Of course, there is no need to worry about it because Facebook will be around for a long time, but who knows? This brave group of seven well-known artists and programmers who brought us Ello had no idea that they could shake things up this much — and that’s what we needed because it cost nothing to shake things up …
Gazelle Paulo is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine . Follow him on Twitter and FreakChic.
