Ethan Gliechtenstein creates Ethan app to answer strangers’ questions

ETHAN created an app named after himself as an easy way for his friends to get in touch. Now strangers are bombarding him with questions. But who is he?

Strangers are turning to Ethan for advice on everything.

MEET Ethan, creator of Ethan, a messaging app for messaging, well, Ethan.

The New Yorker came up with the app as an easy way for his friends to get in touch.

But strangers began downloading it — and he is now being inundated with messages asking him questions on every subject under the sun.

There is one question he will not answer, however: who is Ethan?

Ethan advises users not to fall in love with him.

“The idea was to have a super fast way for my friends to message me,” he told news.com.au. “So instead of wading through all the contact list of Whatsapp or Facebook messenger, they would just open up Ethan app and immediately start typing.

“It sounds hipster, but you know sometimes you do things just because you can — and no one has done it before.

“Then random people started downloading the app in the wild and messaging me. I had fun having conversations with these guys so decided to actually launch it to public.”

So is Ethan (who’s surname is Gliechtenstein) a guru for the modern age?

“I became sort of a virtual assistant,” he writes online. “Finding music for romantic dinners or animes with dragons for them,.

“Sometimes it’s hard because they keep asking me questions while I’m sleeping.”

Ryan asks Ethan for advice on dining out in his local area.

Ethan is now regularly consulted for fashion advice, movie recommendations, solutions to arguments and the answer to existential quandaries.

Commenters on producthunt.com, where Ethan’s app first got noticed, compared him to original MySpace user and everyone’s friend Tom.

Others suggested he was a sophisticated robot, convincing humans that he was real.

Ethan is keeping his identity a closely guarded secret, yet plenty of people are placing real trust in his advice — choosing to speak to him when close friends just won’t do.

John gets some healthy living advice from Ethan.

“I am their unbiased non-judgmental friend,” he told news.com.au.

“I just respond spontaneously with what comes to my mind at the moment.

“People ask me things like ‘Should I just stay home and watch TV or go out?’ I just nudge them with answers like “What are you talking about? Don’t stay home, go out and exercise!’

“They actually do go out to gym and exercise, or take a walk in the park and send me a message thanking me for nudging them, along with pictures.”

Patrick is told to avoid violence in work conflicts.

When people ask him “life-changing, serious questions”, he says he tries to be “as sincere as possible”, and advises them to talk to other people too.

He is often asked for guidance on matters of the heart, estimating that around a dozen people have confessed to a secret crush on his suggestion.

Do we just need someone to tell us what to do?

Ethan is now taking requests from many users who have said they too would like their own app.

Kate asks for a movie recommendation.

The template could be used by anyone from experts to small businesses, and has echoes of recent app sensation “Yo”, where all you can do is send someone a message reading “Yo”.

But do we really want a world where “everyone can have their own chat app”?

One commenter said “the ultimate outcome of everything having its own app” could mean an app needed for every contact, plus apps to organise apps.

If you’re not quite sure where you stand on all this, maybe you should download Ethan.

Jen gets fashion tips from Ethan.

ETHAN’S RULES

How does it work?

1. Open the app to message Ethan

3. Ethan may message you time to time

3. Ethan can’t respond when he’s asleep

4. You too, can be Ethan’s friend

What can I do?

1. Ask Ethan’s opinion on anything

2. Banter with Ethan

3. Don’t ask Ethan to do your work

4. Don’t fall in love with Ethan

5. Leave 5 star review on the Appstore