Lenny entered the shop tab once again. With the regular visits here, he had already learned of the types of items that were sold. There were four types: Consumables, Talents, App Utilities, and Collectibles.
Consumables were temporary or one-time use items that were simply consumed by pointers to invoke short-term instantaneous effects, such as health-restoring items like [Insta-Health Recovery Capsule] and [Revitalize!], energy-boosting items like [Insta-Power Booster Capsule] and [Invigoria!], temporary performance enhancement medicines like [CogniPro-Xel], and more.
App Utilities were items that provided additional functions or benefits within the app that were mostly non-tangible, such as special features, exclusive access to certain areas, and unique app functionalities.
Talents were the inborn—natural—aptitudes individuals possessed for a particular skill, in which pointers were privy to easily purchase and upgrade with their v-points.
And lastly, Collectibles were simply items that could be 'collected' repeatedly and possessed a designated threshold, that upon completion, a pointer would be granted rare equipment, gear, or relics with unique properties and functionalities.
Not ready for continuous swiping and searching, Lenny used the filter settings at the top corner of the screen and specified "App Utilities."
He looked past other items and settled on the simple icon with an upward arrow on a bar chart.
[Go Viral!]
Type: App Utility.
Tier: I.
Description: Make a photo, audio, video, or any form of media go viral online. The level of virality depends on the media and the number of viral points used in the purchase.
Price: 1 VP (+).
Lenny nodded approvingly as he read the description of this feature. It wasn't corny and stupid like the ones for consumables.
Scratching his chin, he thought about how exactly he could effectively test out this feature.
He searched his phone for a video he once took of a cat rolling back and forth in sand. Then, he duplicated it and used a video editor app to add a random caption to the duplicated clip.
Afterward, he downloaded the TinkTonk app because he had once heard that it had the best algorithm to go viral, logged in with his Wi-Mail account, and uploaded the two videos.
Then, he went back to Top Idol and bought the [Go Viral!] app utility with the last v-point he had.
[Upload media ~or~ Paste link]
Lenny uploaded the cat video with the caption into Top Idol.
He speculated the virality would have maximum effect and reception on the TinkTonk account where he uploaded the captioned video clip, compared to uploading the same captioned video multiple times on different accounts or on multiple media sharing platforms like Facegram, Tweeter, or WiTube Shorts.
He sought to test the potency of the [Go Viral!] app utility by making two very similar videos and seeing which would gain the most traction. Would they gain the same amount of traction because of the cat? Or were the videos wholly independent, resulting in only the captioned video gaining all the traction? And how much of all that would even turn into actual followers?
Whatever the answer, now, he just had to wait for the results.
Going back to TinkTonk, he was amused by a short video, then another, and in a blink, he found that he had already spent 5 minutes swiping continuously.
Curious about this short-style content, Lenny searched and found that a TinkTonk content creator with a million followers could earn from $1,000 to $5,000 every day through gift donations, ad revenue, sponsored posts, brand partnerships, and endorsements.
The top-paid TinkTonk celebrities and influencers were said to earn as much as $500,000 per post, with an average of $100,000 to $250,000.
Lenny wasn't sure how accurate these statistics were, as they could just be a manipulative tactic for the sake of encouraging individuals to become content creators, but, he was still astonished.
Blown away by such life-changing numbers individuals studied for years to earn, Lenny became even more curious about the kind of content those at the top created.
He searched for the most viral and trending videos of top creators on TinkTonk, believing their content would most likely be the epitome of creativity and skill.
'…Hmm, 41.1 million likes. This should be really amazing…'
Lenny clicked on the first video with the thumbnail of a lady wearing a cat-ears headband.
As it started playing, the girl just sang, "Needa winna wanna getta daboodabadibup… SUAAVEEEE… Needa winna wanna getta daboodabadibup… SUAAVEEEE…"
With just that, the video ended.
Lenny paused and thought for a few seconds, perplexed, then replayed the video. The same sound of the lady singing words he couldn't understand reached his ears once again.
'...Even though it's another language, I still don't see how it could've garnered so much attention. Or is it because it's a girl…?' Lenny thought in perplexion.
Watching the nine-second video once again, Lenny stared at the 41.1 million likes and 287 million views the clip had garnered. It lacked correlation. The video wasn't as intriguing or creative to gather such an amount of likes and views.
"Maybe it's just this one…" Lenny muttered and swiped further.
Another girl just bobbed her head and lip-synced the background music for 20 seconds.
"M-to-the-bee, m-to-the-bee, m-to-the-bee, m-to-the-bee, m-m-m-m-m-to-da-bee… bom…"
Furrowing his eyebrows, Lenny muttered, "Either these creators are pointers, or they knew someone who's a pointer and is utilizing the Go Viral app utility on their content, there is simply no other way."
Looking at the numbers the video garnered, a vein popped on the corner of his head. With a contorted face, he asked icily, "Otherwise, how on earth does this video have 62 million likes and 775 million views?!"
Unwilling to accept this atrocity, he swiped further. His eyes settled on a tan-skinned lady with long beige-colored hair, holding a hair straightener with popcorn in its middle.
"Gang-gang, gang-gang. Mm, yummy, you got me feelin' like a cowgirl. Slaayyy, hehehe. Yes, yes, yes…"
This particular video was a clip from a live stream, was viewed by 30 million people, and was liked by 9 million. A comment under the video mockingly mentioned that the tan-skinned influencer earns over $7,000 for every live stream where she just gave a set of specific awkward reactions to the gifts she received.
Not only was Lenny utterly perplexed, but he was also frustrated and dumbfounded. He worked multiple jobs and drowned in debt while his fellow humans threw money at such crap. Was this the true power of viral points?
The corner of Lenny's brows and lips twitched. He was on the verge of ripping his hair out, smashing his phone on the wall, and retreating to the wilderness to isolate himself from the rest of humanity. His displeasure and disappointment at the current state of society was evident.
Deeply conflicted and holding back tears, he muttered, "What… What has humanity come to…?"