An application offers to control the life of others

NewNew allows "creators" to monetize decisions of everyday life by offering their subscribers to choose for them, explains the "BBC".

Ground Report | New Delhi: You to control certain aspects of another person's life?. This is what the NewNew application offers, "a human stock exchange where you buy shares in the lives of real people. In order to control their decisions and observe the result" imagined by Courtne Smith, an American entrepreneur. 

Among the users, writer Brandon Wong. Interviewed by the  BBC , the 24-year-old from Canada. Explains his first experience on this new social media, one evening, he couldn't decide which dish to order. 

He then asked his subscribers to choose for him through a survey. The attendees, who had to pay five dollars to respond, then opted for Korean food, which he ultimately ordered. “I couldn't decide between Chinese and Korean, so it was very useful,” he explains.

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The app, which is still in its “beta” version, can be used for all day-to-day decisions, such as choosing the outfit of the day. If it may seem worrying in the eyes of some, the reality is less alarming. NewNew is aimed at "creators", writers, painters, musicians, fashion designers or bloggers, and not all Internet users. It wants to be a way to forge closer bonds with the fans, but especially to monetize this connection.

A bit as if TikTok had met Big Brother"

On his NewNew profile, “creator” is encouraged to ask followers to vote on aspects of his personal life and work through video clips. 

Brandon Wong has also used it to choose the genre of his next book, the names of new characters and plot developments. For all these decisions, he posted a poll with two possible answers. 

For each vote, he receives money, less the application commission, the amount of which was not disclosed. Voters can pay to do so as many times as they want, but are not refunded if the other proposal is ultimately accepted. 

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“NewNew is like TikTok has met Big Brother and they've had a baby. The two have had phenomenal success,” social media expert Matt Navarra told the BBC . “However, it seems a bit gimmicky, and I wonder if the novelty value won't be short-lived. 

However, if choosing a stranger's outfit gives Gen Z a boost, then we might be on the right track, ”he continued. With less than 100 creators on board, expert is not sure that application will ever meet with massive appeal.

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