StartupTunes

YouNow

YouNow is a live-video entertainment platform. Think of YouTube like website and you get the idea. One major difference between YouNow and YouTube is that YouNow is live. One similarity is that YouNow can be a tremendous self-promotion tool.

YouNow can attract a lot of junk along with a long of talent. But there are way to control that. You can broadcast your bit via mobile or webcam.

The resource can be used by talents from all around the world to showcase their craft. Users can control the length of the material being shown through their feedback. Performances can be liked by giving a star.

For as long as I watched, there was a comedian performing, a singer singing and a man talking about I-don’t-know-what, but he was using a lot of abusive language. Of course, you can cut short a performance by giving the thumbs-down if you do not like it, or carry on viewing it by giving a thumbs-up if you like it.

YouNow is called social television. A user cannot control the quality of the performances (and they are live, not recorded like for television), still it is more interesting precisely because it is open for everybody.

Popular opinion will definitely work on YouNow. If people think a performance good, it will get more attention from others; otherwise not. Popular opinion can also help YouNow in getting rid of inappropriate material or abusive stuff.

As YouNow grows, it will grow more entertaining. More people will mean more votes, more audience, and more drama. You can have your live American Idol on YouNow with millions of users voting in and against a participant. It will be exciting, to say the least.

YouNow, from the look of it, has a tremendous opportunity for it to grow big, and also for its users. Would it be the next big thing after YouTube?

YouNow has raised $1 million from Union Square Venture and Founders Collective till now.