Aparna Joag
Founder, NOMM
"If you're not paying for the product, you are the product".
This adage has never been truer than it is on social media. The platforms generate hundreds of billions in advertising revenue at the expense of member's personal data, content, and creativity, while they get no share of it.
Aparna is aiming to change that paradigm and has founded NOMM, a safe, transparent, and equitable social media platform - one that puts monetisation, ownership, and control in the hands of those who rightfully deserve it, the members. Its mission is to democratize social media by:
• Democratizing ad revenue - members keep a lion's share of the ad revenue for their content and their data.
• Democratizing content moderation - member's control and have a say on the content.
• Democratizing platform ownership - members will be stakeholders by having an opportunity for ownership in the platform.
The idea stems from Aparna's experience of being a creator herself. She wrote fiction under a pseudonym on platforms like WordPress and Wattpad. While the connect with people, a large readership and their adulation was extremely rewarding in many ways, it was utterly thankless from a monetary perspective. She has had the firsthand experience of the time, effort and money creators invest to get content out there and get nothing in return.
NOMM will also address issues like personal data privacy violation, monopolising digital advertising and even tax avoidance, and align rightly with governments in terms of imminent regulation around digital services and online safety. It aims to be a win-win for all parties that make up this ecosystem and provide a viable solution to facilitate the open and free web.
