“We were the evil twin stepsisters, who were very mean,” Veronica says. In addition, the twins have been cast in “Jane the Virgin,” a sitcom on the CW. We also do charades and trivia,” Vanessa says. We’ll start humming a song or playing a song on guitar and they guess the song, and whoever guesses the song first gets to pick a letter for Hangman. They livestream every Tuesday, singing covers of songs that fans request, playing games with viewers, answering their questions, and giving advice to people who want it. “ like posting a video every Tuesday on YouTube,” Vanessa says. ![]() The Merrells, who are currently in high school with plans to attend college in the future, say YouNow has become part of their weekly routine. “The fact that the camera faces IN as default, not out, suggests how valuable we believe conversation is to the success of this format.” ![]() “What makes YouNow so different from and more valuable than some competing livestreaming apps is that many of those are utilities used to broadcast, not media creation platforms rooted in social discovery,” he says. He says what drew him to YouNow is how inherently social it is. We always ask, Where are you from? Who’s watching us right now? And we get answers form all over the world. It’s just amazing to see all these people from around the world come together and chat with each other and just have fun.”ĭavid Pakman is a partner at venture capital firm Venrock, which led YouNow’s $7 million Series B round of funding in August 2014. “We get to play games with our fans, we get to see where they’re from. “We don’t just read the comments,” Vanessa said. The sisters genuinely love interacting with their community of fans. While they say they do make “a good amount” of money from YouTube and YouNow alike - “the more and more viewers we get on our broadcasts the more money comes in,” Vanessa says - they’ve never been motivated by money. After being on the platform for about 9 months, the high schoolers have amassed 76,000 YouNow fans in addition to their 250,000 YouTube subscribers. YouNow audience members can pay to give gifts like 50 thumbs ups to their favorite broadcaster to help them trend on YouNow.įor the Merrell twins, YouNow has come naturally. Tumblr star and Internet personality Tyler Oakley raised half a million dollars on crowdfunding website Prizeo for The Trevor Project, a charity that raises awareness for LGBT youths at risk of suicide, and linked to his YouNow account in a sort of modern-day telethon. Last year, Vine star Shawn Mendes released a single on YouNow. Teens, a demographic with a lot of time on their hands, as suggested by the ever-popular #bored hashtag on YouNow, do everything from talk to the camera, eat dinner while they talk to their community of followers, dance, and even livestream themselves sleeping (For a more thorough explainer on YouNow’s fascinating #sleepingsquad, I defer to BuzzFeed’s Katie Notopolous). The theory behind YouNow is that people crave social interaction in every form, and YouNow is the perfect platform for that. When you use YouNow’s platform, you can see the top trending broadcasters, as well as which of your friends are online and a number of trending tags, including things like #dance, #truthordare, and #advice. And the audience feels like even though it’s a one-to-many, it feels like a one-to-one interaction.” The secret sauce is that it’s all about the audience. “It’s a global platform for self expression,” he said. If you still can’t quite wrap your head around what YouNow is, Sideman puts it best: Pro Tip: You can always access the “Go Live” button no matter what page you end up on.The collision of these trends led Sideman to start YouNow in 2011. ![]() Look at how awesome these thumbnails look on YouNow’s explore page. Get in the frame and say cheese, or upload a thumbnail you designed. This image will appear on YouNow’s homepage as a snapshot of your broadcast. Step 4: It’s time to upload your best thumbnail. This will give YouNow’s users cruising the homepage an even better idea of what they might find in your live show. This way, both friends and other community members can join your broadcast if it aligns with their interests. Step 2: Use a popular and appropriate hashtag to categorize your content. You can find the button on the left corner of your browser. Below, we'll be focusing on the steps of how to do so via your computer browser. Most broadcasters find it easiest to broadcast via the web while getting to know the platform because there's more flexibility to use all of YouNow's creator tools. Now that you filled out your profile, go live, and introduce yourself to the YouNow community!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |