New York - UPI
The founder of the new social media network Ello now says they are getting thousands of requests to join the site per hour.
Paul Buditz said that number is around 31,000 per hour.
The site was originally designed to be used for about 90 of Bunditz's close friends.
Ello is an aesthetically stripped down social network, designed by photographer filmmaker, artist, designer toy maker, and bicycle enthusiast Budnitz.
He opened it to others early last month.
Ello is dubbed the "anti-Facebook" because of a pledge to carry no advertisers and not sell user data.
The network has survived a Distributed Denial of Service which knocked it offline briefly this weekend.
According to the founder, everyone is "learning as we go."
Bunditz said "It's in beta and it's buggy and it does weird stuff - and it's all being fixed as quickly as we can."
He also said he does not consider Facebook to be a competitor and is "flattered" by the "anti-Facebook" description.