I was interested to read about the polling app NewNew, which is creating something like the Opposite of Influencers.
NewNew, a start-up in Los Angeles, describes its product as creating a “human stock market.” On the app, fans (aka random people on the internet) pay to vote in polls to control some of a creator’s day-to-day decisions. Whether it’s the clothes the creator wears or what they eat for breakfast, the poll has control.
The start-up’s founder is a Black woman, Courtne Smith, profiled recently in Fast Company. She confirms the presence of extreme bias against women, and especially Black women, in tech.
According to a survey by Women Who Tech, nearly 50% of women founders were told they would raise more money if they were a man; 59% said they were explicitly propositioned for sex in exchange for investment funding and introductions; and women of color founders were harassed more frequently than white women founders.
Still, I find the way that New New further commodifies its users disturbing, too.