Apparently the new social media buzz is Ello
ELLO is a new social network that’s been getting a lot of attention this week. It’s currently in beta, so you can only join if you get an invitation from someone else. But those invites are now hot commodities, as people start to embrace it as an anti-Facebook.
Ello doesn’t force people to use their real names — which has driven its popularity in the LGBTQ community — and it promises to never serve ads.
More info here http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/ello-is-the-antifac…
Charging by the feature — that reminds me of App.net which is also ads-free & tracking-free. It started with a fee but later on changed to freemium to try to gain traction. Didn't get them anywhere though.
As of Ello. Would it be a threat to Facebook? Not likely. It would probably stay as a niche social network. However like any Internet community, if it cannot continue to evolve, build up momentum, etc there's also a possibility that it would wither and die, especially when there's no financial incentive there for the founders.