While some revel in the drama that the YouTube beauty community provides, it comes as no surprise that plenty of users actively avoid it…a shame for the educational and inspirational resource it would otherwise be for the beauty obsessed.
This is where Newness comes in: a live streaming platform featuring your favourite beauty creators…without the negativity and drama that social media and streaming services have become known for in recent years.
Created by former Twitch employees Jenny Qian and Youri Park, Newness is inspired by the OG gaming platform but designed to be an exclusively positive and uplifting live streaming platform for those invested in the beauty space; a category that even in the midst of a pandemic generates $500 billion in global sales a year.
Currently, the main functions of the app include the livestream (of your favourite beauty creator), which can be set to private or public and the chat, which sits directly below the video. As the platform is intended to build, grow and support community, you can “heart” comments in the chat, access highlights of the stream to find product links and top comments and follow your favourite creators for notifications when they’re going live. Additionally, and the component that puts Newness in competition with the likes of Patreon, OnlyFans and now the Super Follow function on Twitter, followers can “gift” their favourite creators in tiers, live during the stream or by visiting their profile, plus buy tickets to virtual events.
While none of the above is revolutionary in the social media space, Newness’ point of difference is both it’s lineup of experts and creators (currently invite only), and it’s priority on stamping out negativity– something that has been slowly chipping away at the enthusiasm of the exisiting beauty community for years. In this way, moderation is key. According to TechCrunch, when creators go live on the platform, they will be paired with an in-house moderator, to assist with the flow of conversation and manage audience engagement. Ideally, this will lead to the eventual appointment of a member of the creator’s fan base or community to step in to moderate future streams.
Another wildly interesting layer to the platform is the capacity to earn audience or fan rewards. In an effort to promote positive participation, fans can earn Crystals. As the app describes, “If NEWNESS was an arcade, Crystals would be your prize tokens. You can earn Crystals for doing different things (fun things!) and redeem them for beauty products, limited edition prizes, and more.”
As Newness is currently in Beta, the creator base is extremely exclusive. Currently the list includes a range of experts and creators, including Allure Editor-In-Chief, Michelle Lee, makeup artist (responsible for Meghan Markle’s wedding makeup to be precise), Daniel Martin, Tatcha founder Vicky Tsai and a range of skin care, makeup, hair and nail focused creators.
While Newness is still fine tuning, past livestreams such as The Glowtionary “Trying Fenty Skin & Fenty Beauty” and Cyrus Veyssi “(Almost) full face using “About Face” beauty ?”, are tapping into Gen-Z, buzzword heavy beauty content guaranteed to garner streams. Plus, with cute branding and a hugely diverse launch lineup, YouTube is quaking.
For more on Newness click here or download the app.