Obsessee is a lifestyle publisher focusing on fashion, beauty, culture and social justice but it doesn’t have a website quite unlike all other publishers. Instead, it is present on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Tumblr, Spotify and some others. This is surely something that was unheard of before, at least not on a scale that Obsessee appears to be operating on.
This new experiment was initiated just a little over a year ago by the Clique Media Group, the parent company that owns Obsessee along with sites like Who What Wear and MyDomaine. The editorial staff at Obsessee comprises a small team of four full-time editors and its newsroom essentially reflects an expanded social media team. Most of its feed like, posts and voices come from its 50 Gen Z-aged contributors from across various locations. Obsessee mixes up its content with layers of reporting and news alternating from original graphic design to personalized captions and stories from its writers. The content on this platform ranges from fashion and beauty fare to inspiring stories and breakdowns of major news events, tailored to specific social media sites. For instance, on Spotify they might offer a “Governors Ball Jams” playlist to prepare fans and listeners for the music festival while on Pinterest, they would display a digital graphic of that track list.
Alex Taylor, president of digital at Clique Media Group, said, “When we launched, we wanted to create content for where people were already consuming it. Instead of using social media to achieve mass scale, or as an instant growth play, we get to evolve and grow where our Gen Z girl goes. Websites are, clearly, highly relevant content-delivery systems for other publishers. For us, we wanted Obsessee to be an innovative process and experiment with platform monetization. This is a different stand against the rise of clickbait in order to drive traffic.” According to the editorial director of Obsessee, Naomi Nevitt, “Our stories feel like updates from a friend rather than traditional journalism because our content is created by and for our Gen Z community.”