Advertisers can now let out one great big sigh of relief: the 'Ello' trend might just be over before it ever really started, if data from Google Trends is anything to go by.
A graph of Google searches over the past 30 days on the term "Ello" shows two distinct peaks, before fizzling out to levels almost as low as before the onslaught of attention it received at the end of September. Confining the search to Australia specifically and the trend is even more narrow, with just one distinct peak before leveling out (below).
Ello,the start-up social network, promises its users an ad-free environment. It's a response to social networks like Facebook who collect and sell the data of their users and aims to appeal to people defecting from the big social sites.
While Ello has been in operation since July as an invite only network, interest in the site boomed at the end of September with Canadian site CBC reporting that Ello was receiving 4000 request for access every hour.
For advertisers using social sites such as Facebook to build brands, the momentum seen in Ello's early days could certainly throw a spanner in the works.
White searches might be dwindling, We Are Social research & insights analyst Dhanuj Selvaraj said it might be too early to write the network off just yet.
"Unlike other social media platforms, Ello has attracted people with its promise to not sell user data. This is a strong proposition so it might be too early to say whether the decline in searches are reflective of the usage and success of the platform," she said.
Selvaraj also noted that social media conversations in forums, blogs and Twitter, have also been plummeting in Australia, reflective of the Google Trends searches (below).
"Interest and conversations could have continued to peak if invites were responded to promptly, however Ello has mentioned that they are inviting new users in small groups. We would have to wait and see how active users are when the platform is out of Beta," she added.
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