YouNow

The originator of our recent “Why I Love YouNow” campaign, Donovan “The Prince” Santiago, decided to write a few words on what YouNow means to him. Check out his video and his story below:

My name is Donovan Santiago I am 20 from Brooklyn, New York. I am a film major in college and I want to be an Actor, Film Director and a Writer. I first discovered Younow.com on Realitywanted.com. I looked in the contest section and I saw Younow.com, a site that would hold contests each week and anyone could enter – all you needed to do was go live and entertain the audience.

I thought “Why not,” I went live… and I have been hooked ever since! From entering “Reality School” (now called Robert Galinsky’s Reality Game Show), and winning six times to doing comedy and singing random songs to talking about serious topics. I like that I am able to do a variety of different things on YouNow. I love that I can talk about a variety of different topics.

Another thing I love about younow is the many different people on the website. From MsSassy Neighbor to Tahj to Just Bob, I love the different faces and they all bring something different and unique to the table. Since coming to YouNow in early October I have developed a fan base that keeps on growing and I’ve been given the support of many users. I will keep expanding my fan base and keep on broadcasting for a very long time.

Once I find a site a I like, like Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia I keep using them. Younow.com is one of those sites that I will keep on using for a long time. I tell people if they get voted off just keep coming back show them why you are above the haters! I also like to promote being open minded and respecting everyone on YouNow. I feel like we can have a better site if everyone is open minded and gives everyone a chance to broadcast. I recently started the “Why I Love YouNow” campaign with a Youtube video on my account. (embedded above)

I plan to keep expanding The I Love Younow.com campaign until it gets big. I also want to do The End of Year Younow Awards, A Younow NYC Meetup and I have many other ideas I want to do. Younow has become a part of my life and I wear my Younow t-shirt with pride because I Love Younow.com! Here’s to the future!

-Donovan “The Prince” Santiago

Did you have a long day at school? Maybe you had a long day at work? What ever the case may be, we at YouNow understand that you can’t always be on the site actively watching what’s going on. We have an answer to that, YouTube. Visit our YouTube page daily so you can watch the day’s best broadcasts. We will bring you the day’s best premieres, most original broadcast, and anything that just made us laugh. So, if you have to go on vacation or if you have to walk the dog, visit our YouTube channel to get your daily YouNow fix.

Click me to view YouNow’s YouTube Page

Are you wondering where you stand in our Next Big Thing Contest? HERE’S ANOTHER UPDATE, as of Monday, January 30th, 2012.

The 20 entries with the most votes: (And no, we’re not telling you how many votes they have… 2 days left so get your friends voting for you!)

Abi Mills
Jack Scarth
Connor Halsey
Sam Pepper
Dan Summerfield
Andy Jowett
Joanna Russell
James Jones
Cale Gaster
Izzy Strawbridge
Oli White
Billie Stone Ralston
Krissy Hunt
Slater Alien
Grace McNamara
Adam Shallcross
Fiona MacLennan
Tobias Alderson
Marina Joyce
Corey Middleton

Prizes:

1. Get 50+ votes on your idea and get a limited-edition pack of the first-ever collectible YouNow buttons
2. Get 100+ votes on your idea and get a special-edition YouNow hoodie

3. The 3 contestants whose ideas receive the most votes will also win the Kigu onesie of their choice!
4. Upon reaching 4,000 likes on YouNow’s facebook page by February 1, 2012 at 5pm EST, the top idea will win an iPad 2!

Final Note:
The key to this contest is spreading the word about your genius ideas, and getting your friends and family to support. Remember, the YouNow Facebook Page must reach 4,000 likes before February 1, 2012 for an iPad to be awarded… so get your friends to like us – we’re almost there!

I have been with YouNow ever since the site was launched and slowly I rose the the top. There are many reasons why I love YouNow.

Let me start off with the basic reasons. The first and obvious reason is because when you are live, you feel like you are famous, (don’t lie to yourself, you know you have the same feeling when people are shouting out your name calling you all hot and stuff). :) When I’m live with 200+ people watching me and all saying “YOU ROCK”, “UR AMAZING,” and stuff like that, it makes me feel wanted and sorta like a celebrity. Growing up I was made fun of a lot, and had trouble keeping a steady relationship with my friends, but on YouNow, its like a complete reset button. People that are watching you have no idea who you are besides your name and what you look like. You feel like a completely different person.

With that said, there is yet another reason why I love YouNow. For a little over a year, I have been uploading a daily video of my life to youtube.com/maximDBD. When i’m on YouNow, as many of you know, I promote my youtube, and before YouNow, I used to get like 50 views per video, which I was actually happy with. Now I have set my goals higher and get around 150+ views per video. I got around 300 subscribers from just users from YouNow that love watching me, and that wanted to watch me more so they decided to subscribe to my youtube.

Now the big reason why I love YouNow is because of the stuff that the company does to interact with other people. For example every Wednesday there is a karaoke contest that goes on and the winner gets 100 dollars. Being part of this contest you can meet and see amazing people out there with talent that you may have never seen before. When I saw Harvey Willey on YouNow I thought he was amazing and now I always watch him when ever he is live, and thats not a joke. Now sure everyone loves the prizes, like winning a shirt and the iPhone, but i’m more into it for pure fun, meeting new people and talking to the world. I love the feeling that people actually like watching me and that they enjoy my broadcasts.

That is why I love YouNow. :)

- Max Wright

To see Max’s broadcasts, check out his YouNow Profile.

So, I found out about YouNow from… you guessed it, Sam Pepper! Sam told people to go live, and I thought, why not!

I can’t actually remember my first broadcast, it probably was atrocious, but this site has made me grow so much as a person. I came onto YouNow as someone with little confidence, but, that has all changed! Before I would hardly sing to people, and now, well, I sing all the time. Corey-Jake Middleton and Ross Woods convinced me to do the karaoke on the 30th of November and I won… I was so chuffed! I couldn’t believe it! I then did it again on 21st December; I won again!

Now, I will go onto YouNow and sing original songs! Before YouNow, no one, absolutely no one, would hear my songs, as they are about things so personal to me. Now I am so confident about them, as I can go on YouNow, sing them, and get positive feedback – which makes it even more amazing!

Another reason why I love YouNow is because of the people it has allowed me to meet. You get some haters, yeah, that’s life, but the amazing people I have met from YouNow (such as Fiona MacLennan, Harvey Willey, Robert Kinbrum, Connor Halsey, Billie Stone, Emily Tilley, Corey-Jake Middleton, Adam Shallcross, the list goes on), more than cancels it out! We have grown to become like a family, and I love them all very much!

I recently won the webcam, and I would like to thank everyone who is a fan of me. For me, however, YouNow isn’t about the prizes – it’s about so much more! I know I will be a part of YouNow for a long time to come, so finally, I just want to say, a huge, massive thank-you to Adi Sideman (for those who don’t know, he is the founder of YouNow) and anyone else who works at YouNow!

- Abigail Green

Abigail’s broadcasts can be found here.

So I have used YouNow for a few of months now, and since the beginning I have made so many unforgettable friends such as Ellie Cook and Connor Halsey. I first heard about the website thorough one of Sam Pepper’s tweets and decided to have a look. At first I was reluctant to ‘go live’ but after watching a few other broadcasts I pressed that green button and my life hasn’t been the same. From people adding me on facebook and following me on twitter, to people emailing me saying they’re big fans of me, things changed quickly! It made me happy knowing that just by sitting on my bed broadcasting, I could make people smile.

Since then I have become addicted to YouNow, going on it everyday and broadcasting.  When the counter goes “3..2..1.. Your live”, I get an inexplicable sudden rush of excitement! Also, it was a big buzz when I found out that I was live while Adi Sideman, CEO of YouNow, presented at the New York Tech Meetup. I mean, I’m a 15 year old girl just sitting on my bed having fun, but to find out that I was live in front of over 1000 people was an amazing shock!

A screenshot of the YouNow iPhone Beta App, from the broadcast selection screen

For me, I think the best thing is that I’m a tester for the YouNow mobile beta app.  Being 1 of 25 people in the whole world to have that app is extraordinary, absolutely out of this world, and is a real achievement. It is rewarding to know that I am one of the people who is making YouNow even better for the new people that visit the site, and I am honored.

Thank you, YouNow for changing my life.

- Hannah Johnson

Johnni Riddlin is a dancing hyper dude who loves making people smile with his broadcasts and is the Hulk of Happiness! In this, his YouNow premiere broadcast, Johnni dances manically, shows off his psychedelic room, bursts out of a t-shirt and demonstrates his ground breaking ‘instant abs’. His job is to “brighten your day” and he most certainly will with every broadcast. Follow him @johnniriddlin.

If you have ever seen my broadcasts on YouNow, then you will already know that my name is Fiona MacLennan, I am sixteen years old, a proud Scot and I have pink and orange hair! I found out about YouNow through Sam Pepper’s tweets. I had to go eat my dinner and when I got back, he wasn’t on anymore. After that, I started watching properly and decided to have a go myself.

I can’t remember how long I lasted on my first broadcast but I know it wasn’t very long. This didn’t put me off though. Over 500 broadcasts later, I am happy to say that a lot of the time I get the opportunity to end my broadcasts instead of being kicked off which is fulfilling itself. I really liked the site because it was simple looking yet effective and some of the people that broadcasting were really entertaining. I have made so many friends through YouNow that I regularly Skype as we all wait in the queue and these people include Abigail Lucy Green, Harvey Jacob Willey, Piers Roberts, Connor Halsey, Billie Ralston and Adam Shallcross, to name a few! I think without these people and YouNow I would probably still be spending my nights very bored and going to bed at a reasonable time.

I have been using YouNow for over a month and a half and from what I have seen, YouNow is forever changing. From alterations to the site to new broadcasters every day. Unfortunately a lot of the broadcasters I used to watch, no longer use the site but new people have come along and taken their place. YouNow will probably continue to change and we are all eagerly awaiting the upcoming alterations such as the introduction of the YouNow app, the new prizes and the long awaited search tool bar. I think YouNow is such a great website because it is unlike any other. It is perfect for me because unlike my friends who tell me to shut up or zone out, the viewers actually like listening to me ramble on about random things and going off on tangents.

I like helping the website out as much as I can and they have done so much for me. I was lucky enough to win a t-shirt, webcam and an IPhone 4S which is amazing. I hope that I will be using YouNow for a very long time. You never know, in a couple of decades time, I could be the next MsSassy Neighbour!

- Fiona MacLennan

Have you been itching to tell us your creative ideas? Ever feel like you know what channels YouNow should create? Do you have a game-changing idea that would make YouNow even MORE awesome???

This is your chance to get your voice heard!

How to Enter:
1. Click “Enter Contest” button on the YouNow Facebook Page tab entitled “Next Big Thing Contest”
2. Complete the entry form with your first and last name, email address and date of birth
3. Submit your genius idea for “YouNow’s Next Big Thing”
4. Rally your friends, family and the community behind your idea after January 25th, and get as many votes as possible on your comment!

WHAT WILL I WIN?

1. Get 50+ votes on your idea and get a limited-edition pack of the first-ever collectible YouNow buttons

2. Get 100+ votes on your idea and get a special-edition YouNow hoodie

3. The 3 contestants whose ideas receive the most votes will also win the Kigu onesie of their choice!

4. Upon reaching 4,000 likes on YouNow’s facebook page by February 1, 2012 at 5pm EST, the top idea will win an iPad 2!

Timing:
1. Submit Your Entry: (Jan 18 – Jan 25)
2. Public Vote: Get your friends, family and even strangers to vote on your idea! (Jan 25 – Feb 1)
3. Judging: The judges will tally votes and review the entries. (Feb 1 – Feb 3)
4. Winners will be announced by Feb 4!

Final Note:
The key to this contest is spreading the word about your genius ideas, and getting your friends and family to support. Remember, the YouNow Facebook Page must reach 4,000 likes before February 1, 2012 for an iPad to be awarded. So ENTER NOW and spread the word!

On the 7th of January 2012, I hosted a YouNow meet and greet in Milton Keynes, UK. The plan was to meet some of the power users of YouNow, as well as those who enjoy watching and interacting.

Jordan’s happy to have won a shirt!

The day started with Jack Davies heading over to my house. After grabbing the t-shirts YouNow had sponsored the event with, we then left to meet Tom Green, another well-known broadcaster on YouNow.com.

After meeting up with Tom, we proceeded to catch our train to the city, where we met up withOli White, and had a few sandwiches at Subway.

Oli White with two girls from Scotland!

As we finished eating we headed to the Meet Up location where we found two girls who had traveled all the way from Scotland –  a 7-8 hour train journey! For their dedication, we we awarded them with YouNow t-shirts to wear proudly around the streets of Scotland.  We made friendly chat and had a good laugh, and were eventually joined by Thomas Wetherall, yet another power user of YouNow!

It was time to have even MORE fun, so we headed up to the arcade at the centre of the city. There we had guitar hero battles, dance mat battles, and of course Dual Team Air Hockey. After about 10 minutes in the arcade Tom Green won £40 on a machine… impressive! From there we moved on to the indoor snowboarding slopes and rock climbing walls.

Now that it was coming to the end of the day, we had one last thing to do: broadcast LIVE from the Apple Store.

Check it out below:

Me, Connor Halsey!

Overall the day was amazing. We met some cool new people and everyone was even cooler in real life! Many thanks to everyone who showed up, and to the people who couldn’t make it – we’re sorry you weren’t there! This was a lot of fun, and we plan to hold another one very soon.

STAY TUNED!

To keep up with me, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or YOUNOW of course!

- Connor Halsey

Here is a personal narrative from a faithful YouNow user, Oli White from Hertfordshire, UK:

My name is Oli White; I’m 16 years old and am fairly new to broadcasting at YouNow. I first heard about YouNow through Sam Pepper’s tweets on twitter. I was really intrigued to what YouNow was and what it did, so I decided to check it out.

My first impression of YouNow was that it was amazing. I found it so simple to use yet it looked so slick, clear and amazing! You simply login using Facebook, which I think is a wonderful way to login because I hate signing up to websites because it’s such a hassle of entering information all the time. I love the fact that there is a line up of the broadcasters so you will always be informed who will be coming on next if the current person gets voted off. The site gives you potentially one minute for you to convince your fans to vote you up and keep you on. This is a great feature because the audience is constantly interacting with you, if it’s them talking to you in the chat or thumbing you up or down with the two buttons either side of the timer. 

I think the main feature that everyone is interested in is the Prizes. This is one of the main ways to keep people motivated and dedicated to keep coming back to the site and broadcast for the chance to grab the fantastic prizes.

The YouNow community is so friendly and welcoming, I felt so comfortable when I first broadcasted, there were so many people that were so encouraging asking me lots of nice questions in the chat. I’ve met so many new people that I will remember forever on this website and shared many memories with them. Some of the friendships I’ve made on YouNow are stronger than some of the people I’ve been friend’s with at school for over 5 years.

After spending some time watching other people’s broadcasts I decided to buck up my courage and do a broadcast myself. The response I got from broadcasting was not what is expected, I gained well over 200 fans in just a couple of days and now 2 weeks later I have just over 1000 fans. I really feel that YouNow is going to grow and grow and become better and better offering more prizes, shows and ways for people to get involved.

There are many other broadcasting websites out there on the internet but nothing will ever match up to YouNow purely because you don’t have to be known on the internet, you can simply broadcast and be guaranteed to have an audience watching.

- Oli White