Bye Bye Facebook? Hello ello.co

Will Someone Save us From facebook and Ourselves? Could Trent Reznor be involved? Looks Like a New Social Network May be a Good Thing? Goodbye facebook and hello to ello! Okay, so you may have heard about the recent name change policy at Facebook which has every righteous drag queen with their panties in a bunch (tough to do with your balls tucked deeply in your crack, or at least I imagine). Said policy also affects people like Howie Pyro, every original member of The Ramones (R.I.P.), tons of bloggers, artists, musicians and freak show performers alike. It also puts in jeopardy those who created aliases in order to play games or join groups on facebook without the worry that their boss might peek in on their vampire fetishes, or that some lovesick facebook freak with another alias might go all Richard Speck / Ted Bundy on their ass. It was bad enough when Google got into the mix and started merging multiple accounts, which, let's face it - had people wanted their accounts merged they would have created them as such. Now our privacy for profit is probably less private than you imagine (granted we 1984'd ourselves), and now we can't even use our chosen name for facebook's ill gotten gains. In an effort to appear non discriminatory facebook stated their name policy is "across the board." Well with folks like Sharon Needles leading the way there was an LGBT exodus from facebook. Sure someone could try to make up for it, but let's face it the damage is done, and it may be the final nail in the coffin for many who feel a bit stifled, but more than that find themselves, once rebels and now sheep. A friend and I last weekend had a conversation about this whole privacy, research, Big Brother, Commercialization of everything, self perpetuated scam of facebook, IE: We are all idiots. So it is with much interest that I stumbled upon ello.co with the motto "Simple, beautiful & ad-free." Their manifesto reads: "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 there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty, simplicity and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and the people who use them should be in partnership. 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. We will be in touch" Right now you may access and sign the manifesto and request an invitation in this beta stage. High profile names such as Trent Reznor are already on board. Is this a new project funded by renaissance man Reznor? Or is it the child of some talented computer savvy people who realized we're all acting like sheep and some of those sheep feel like lemmings? Looks like it's a small group of developers Paul Budnitz, Berger & Föhr, and Mode Set. See they aren't necessarily using their own names. This could save the masses! Could it be something non cynical for the good of the little guy who finds himself seemingly inexorably linked to facebook & in bed with that weasel, you know who I mean, forever? If my decades old hunch about Reznor one day delving into film scores (or ambient music) was right, then maybe this idea isn't as crazy as it sounds either! (You owe me money Marilyn Manson). All I know if that both NIN and Reznor are already present on this new project's site and it appears pseudonyms, nom de plumes, etc, are welcome. The developers say the site will be simple and ad free. It is currently in the Beta testing stage. It looks promising, but why believe me, I'm not Pitchfork or Rolling Stone. Visit the link. What could happen? It's not like your privacy isn't already invaded and sold every day. I'm cautiously interested.... In the meantime take a break from the internet and watch a film.