Summary of BBC article
“The app that lets you pay to control another person's life”, Will Smale reports that in the present age, social media applications have been developed gradually such as Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. Unlike other apps, NewNew offers consumers a chance to control a person's life by making decisions and watching the consequences. Developed by Los Angeles-based Courtne Smith, NewNew is currently in pre-full release stage. This app is designed to create a special bond between content creators and their followers. NewNew creators may post their question with an option of two answers via video clips. Then, their followers will pay to vote as many times as they want. Although NewNew is supported by many investors, its pros and cons are still a controversial topic. While this app may create a strong connection between creators and their followers, it is possible that some bonds can be toxic as the NewNee creator may go to extreme lengths to attract votes from their followers.
Response to BBC article
Nowadays, there are many social media apps for people to choose such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All of them provide different features in order to attract app users’ attention. Unlike other apps, NewNew offers its users a special opportunity to make a decision for their favourite content creators. In my opinion, NewNew is a good platform for content creators and their followers as its advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
One of the good things about NewNew is that it allows the followers to give their opinions on the aspects of work or personal life by voting. For example, writers can post a question about what genre they should write about and ask their followers to make a decision. Participating in making these votes may strenghten the connection between followers and their favourite figures. As a result, it is likely to increase the support for NewNew creators from their fans.
Moreover, NewNew is a new option for creators to introduce themselves and their works to the social media community. The more questions they post, the more interested they become in person. By using this social media platform, they are able to promote their work and get more income from their followers’ votes and NewNew’ s commission. So, NewNew may encourage creators to continue their works as they get more support financially and emotionally.
However, there are some possibilities that creators may do extreme things to get more votes. Some posts may be inappropriate for users as the creators may do extreme things to get more votes from their followers. Unless all posted contents are reviewed thoroughly by the company, it may lead to many problems in the future.
In conclusion, NewNew is like other applications where users have to weigh up pros and cons before using it. For me, I believe that NewNew will be the best app which connects the bond between creators and their followers in the aspect of work and lifestyle in the future.
Question for readers
Do you think NewNew will be a popular app among content creators and their followers?
Reference
Smale, W. (2021). The app that lets you pay to control another person's life. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57085557 .[ accessed 21 May 2021]
NewNew's concept reminds me of Instagram story's poll, and some youtubers used this feature as their content. For example, the youtuber will do what every poll results says, such as eat a 100 baht meal or a 1000 baht meal. However, the voters do not have to pay for voting like NewNew.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The benefit of the platform is that the content creators can know what their followers want to see or watch. It would be good for both creators and watchers. Because the creators get the support from their followers as well as followers get to see what they want to see from their creators.
In my opinion, the creators will realize that everything they post as options. As a result, most of them will not make the choices that are inappropriate. However, the platform should release the policy about this to avoid the bad consequences.
I think NewNew will be popular in the future since this application is just in the pre-full release stage. It has to take some time to become well-known. Moreover, I think this platform concept is interesting so some followers may want to pay for it. In addition, I would suggest NewNew after launching the application to hire the popular superstar to use this platform. After that their fanclub will use this app then.
As I read Aom's post, I was wondering what counts as "inappropriate". What makes a choice inappropriate and who decides that? Should the app creators decide, or should such creative decisions be left to the creative artists to decide?
DeleteRelated to this, what defines a consequence as bad? Is making a lot of money by doing something weird an example of a "bad consequence"?
I argree with you that the company has to make sure that every content posted on NewNew will not be about sentitive subject such as religion, politics and racism. Moreover, I think that celebrities will use this application in the future as it will expand their fan community and increase their income via votes from their followers.
DeleteIf politics and religion are important to people, why should they not be discussed? How does it help individuals or society to ban discussion of important issues? I think people want to talk about these things because they are important to them, which is why they are sensitive, but this is where being formal can help: the app can set rules to be followed, such as not allowing crude language, and not attacking people, but focussing on ideas. Academics discuss the same sensitive issues all the time. In fact, there are whole subjects that discuss politics and religion, and also social problems like racism. I think more, not less, discussion is better, and is more consistent with respecting basic democratic principles.
DeleteI agreed with Peter. I think we can discuss this topic by respecting each other. It will be great, if we listen to different opinions and not judge others opinions. Everyone can have different opinions because everyone has their own thoughts. If people open their minds and talk without personal feelings, maybe they will see another perspective that is interesting. However, this topic is sensible. We should say something carefully on this topic.
DeleteI like the way Nam says that "we can discuss this topic by respecting each other" (Chollada, May 31, 21:30). I also like the point she makes that we are all entitled to hold and express our own opinions on issues; that is a fundamental principle of democracy. However, democracy does not mean or require that there is not disagreement, and I think respecting other people really does require that the law protect their right to say things, to express opinions, that we personally think wrong, immoral, offensive, or even disgusting. If we don't want the law to protect the basic right to free speech that we personally hate and are offended by, then it seems to me that we neither support democracy nor respect other people in our society.
DeleteThat's my opinion. It is also my opinion that 2+2=4, and that the opinion that 2+2=5 is a wrong opinion.
Note the attributive language used to cite Nam's ideas. (Because her display name on the blog is different, it's also important to include that citation information.)
DeleteResponding to blog comments is an opportunity to practice the important academic writing skill of attributing ideas to their sources. It also practices summarizing the idea you want to respond to.