Attempting to reach every voter possible, Doug Ford and John Tory may have joined Ello.
Ello, for those that don’t know, is a new social network that many see as a compelling alternative to Facebook. It was designed by a group of artists and designers, and promises not to sell ads or to give user data to third-party companies.
Beta access to Ello can currently only be obtained by invite, which raises the question—who gave one of their five invites to Doug Ford?
Joking aside, it’s difficult to tell if the account is real when it posts updates like this: “@lucian (one of the co-founders of Ello) Great work! The Ford family believes in openness and transparency too, and are very happy to be the first of Toronto’s Mayoral candidates to join Ello!” and this: “Toronto, you deserve a Mayor that understands integrity.”
Not to be seemingly undone, John Tory may have joined the network as well. His first post, “Hello, Ello! I look forward to connecting with Torontonians as we head into the homestretch of this municipal election. Want to learn more about my platform? Visit http://johntory.ca/. #TOpoli” at least appears to paint the account as real and sincere, though without confirmation it’s difficult to be sure.
We’ve sent a message to both Doug Ford’s and John Tory’s campaigns to confirm whether the accounts are associated with him. We’ll update this post once we know more.
In the meantime, if you’ve been begging everyone you know for an invite to Ello you might want to give up. It appears the social network has already reached post-cool status.
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Igor Bonifacic is the managing editor of Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter.
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