Twitch has evolved from a game-streaming platform, to streamers presenting a program for their followers within a conventional (Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015), yet digital community in a third place that the audience subscribes to because of their interests and likes.

One of the key factors for this change comes from the shift in what a community now looks like, courtesy of the presence of social media. The other is, the way that societies have experienced immense change from a social and socioeconomic standpoint, with Twitch streaming seen as the ‘finished product’ of this. Lastly, the concept of watching or presenting a stream on Twitch, has caused a great thrill and has resulted in the uprising of this new type of community in recent years.

Ever since social media was introduced to us, the concept of what a community looks like has changed on numerous occasions. What was once deemed as a ‘third space’ for places like cafes or libraries, has evolved to ‘writing on a wall’ of one’s Facebook profile, to WhatsApp instant messaging, to direct messaging on Instagram and subscribing to Twitch stream accounts. The difference between Twitch and the other examples, is that it is a person-to-network communication line rather than person-to-person. It is less time consuming, and takes up less resources (Hampton & Wellman, 2018). One could argue that it is more of a multi-layered space, in that you may speak to the streamer if they notice your comment, but there is still that element of the traditional person-to-person interaction with other followers in the chat function of the stream. As Twitch itself has evolved from simply a gaming-related stream platform to a more complex model, it has grasped the interest of new audience members, thus allowing it to grow from simply a platform to a whole community. As opposed to arranging a social gathering at a café, that suits the timetables of all of those who are involved, the convenience that Twitch provides of showing content that meets the interests of the same social group, is quite significant. This is fuelled by what mobility can offer, in that, being able to get past the limits of time and space, has allowed people to break free from the traditional types of community, to an online one. It is the evolution of the space of places becoming the space of flows (Hampton & Wellman, 2018).

Community also looks different because of social media, as studies show that with technology advancing constantly, the rate of contacts is increasing faster than the rate of births (Hampton, 2016). Thus, proving that mobility is what drives modern community and that shared interests has superseded shared places, demonstrating that a physical location is no longer as relevant as what it used to be in terms of a community.  Furthermore to this, physical places have become restricted in any case, for the past two years, due to the global pandemic. This lead to many individuals and families looking for alternative ways to be educated, entertained and to socialise in-house. This then paved the way for social media to be resorted to more than ever (Wong et al., 2020), with more time spent at home looking for way to feel connected, belonged and intact with one’s interest and likes actively.

A social media platform such as Twitch has become highly sought-after due to the many social and socioeconomic changes that have taken place in societies and in communities within these societies. Rapid advancements in technology and the change in living essentials have played a major role in this transition. In terms of technology, social media has always been one of the main players of the changes seen in the last two decades. This has brought along an urban change, with many leaving villages with little or no access to technology, to the big cities with a lot more resources at hand, hence emerging in an online traffic of communication and networking. This then setup networked individualism, where closely knit local networks became multiple or partial social networks (Hampton & Wellman, 2018). While in one way this could be seen as the person-to-person connection parting,  applications such as Twitch overcame this issue by using pervasive awareness very effectively. In that, a person-to-network platform that offers a balance of broadcasting and monitoring (Hampton, 2016), allowed viewers to be heard, all whilst enjoying the broadcast that offered the content desired. The example in which Twitch demonstrated this is via the chat function. This allows members of that platform and streamer specifically, to comment on the chat which appears in the stream itself. It is ultimately a tool for the audience to engage with the streamer as well as one another, in order to ask questions, to socialise and to inform. Significantly, Twitch is not only accessed on computers, smart televisions or laptops, but also on smaller devices such as smartphones, via the Twitch application. This mobility makes it all the more convenient for any Twitch member to watch their favourite streamers, without the restriction of time and space. They can also watch the stream back if they have missed the live broadcast, making it further appealing for those with other commitments. In terms of the essentials and priorities of life, the change on this front has certainly played a role in social media becoming more attractive. If we look at the European preindustrial community for example, there were very few places that can be attended to, to be a part of a community. Life mainly evolved around family, religion and settlement. Interactions outside of family was very little, and activities for one to take place in, was again, very limited (Hampton, 2016). In modern day, the Twitch platform not only allows one to engage with a streamer on topics such as family, religion and settlement, but it also presents a whole new world of streamers talking about many other topics. This sort of flexibility is a direct contrast of the ancient understanding of a gathering, such as an imagined community, which offered a hierarchical system that ensured not all community members could talk to one another, with the expectation that all involved had to have similar beliefs and backgrounds (Hampton & Wellman, 2018). Economic factors have also come into play, with how the understanding of family has changed over time and the various communities. While in the past, settling down with a partner and children may have been a priority early in one’s adulthood, due to the current cost of living, career and education have become the earlier goals that have been set, before considering to start a family. And while from an outside perspective, this may seem like a sense of individualism, with many using their digital devices and living alone, it is more for the fact that financial independence and educational achievements are more critical than in previous generations (Hampton & Wellman, 2018).

It is evident that live-streaming is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in the last decade. To give an example from the year 2016, around 10 million people on a daily basis, tuned into Twitch to watch or present a stream, making it the largest live-streaming platform (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). The reason behind this success, can relate to various factors and motives. One of which would be the change in our media consumption behaviour, in that the emphasis on the individual presenting content, has proven to be equally important of that of a major media production’s; hence a decline has been seen in television viewership (Sjoblom et al., 2019). This has opened up an opportunity for a platform like Twitch to fulfil this change in behaviour. The prosumption-orientated content drive has enabled the agenda for streams to be determined by ‘consumers’ as such, both from viewers and the presenters themselves, not production companies. What this has led to is a decentralised micro-celebrity model (Sjoblom et al., 2019) changing our concept of a celebrity from the likes of Hollywood, to a streamer who is more approachable and accessible by the audience. This ultimately sets up a genuine bond between the parties and creates a fundamental base of an online third space that allows the followers of any channel to feel belonged and part of a community. To dive deeper, Twitch allows for social interactions and more significantly, sets up a sense of community within a digital space (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). This, more specifically, is a ‘third place’ where through the use of the chat function, the viewers engage with the streamer and moderators who assist with the agenda of the stream, and even have the opportunity to take part in the streams by talking on the program, live. Historically, a true sense of community is made up of key elements such as membership, influence, fulfilment of needs and a sense of belonging (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). Therefore, the need for viewers to feel valuable, noticed and influential is a criteria that Twitch addresses to precisely. There is an option to become a member of any channel with a small monthly cost, where they can contribute to a discussion by text or vocally, and they can hear the stories of others within the same community, further enabling a connection and a sense of experience-sharing (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). There is also a great sense of social support that online communities possess, which physical communities may not (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). For those who may not receive support from family and friends on a psychological level, can benefit from joining an online community with those of similar experiences or strong mentorship to assist with the individual facing their troubles (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). Relatively, Twitch can allow the streamer to share their emotions via the live broadcast, with their many followers. An example would be the recent achievement of the Canadian men’s national football team qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, for the first time since 1986. Watching on in pure emotion was the star player of the team, Alphonso Davies (May, 2022), who could not take part in the decisive match due to injury. However, it was the Twitch platform which opened up Alphonso’s doors to his community who joined in celebration and showed their support for the footballer, during a time of raw and mixed emotions. If we compare this type of community to that of a more urban-industrial version, we can easily identify that such an emotional connection could not have been established, as supportive relations were lost (Hampton, 2016). A loss of transgenerational ties was the case, especially for families who had moved from one place to another, breaking down the possibility of any social capital (Hampton, 2016). This is exactly what digital spaces supersede, in that the technology itself is what drives the camaraderie that a platform like Twitch carries, not so much a venue or a precinct.

It is therefore evident, that Twitch has proven to be a community in a third space, that many choose to be a part of. The main factors behind this trend, has been Twitch and the opportunity it presents for viewers to connect with streamers. This community has grown due to the social and socioeconomic changes with space of flows superseding space of places. The priorities of modern society veering towards career and education, as opposed to religion, family and settlement, has brought forward a greater desire for online communities to allow people who are on their own, to feel belonged and valued, prior to any consideration of joining in marriage with another person. The changed culture of what is a celebrity due to Twitch streamers becoming increasingly popular, has allowed for a more person-to-network and more approachable society, in what is deemed to be a digital space that entertains the idea of a community, regardless of the background, interests and lifestyle of an individual.

Reference List

Hampton, K. N. (2016). Persistent and Pervasive Community: New Communication Technologies and the Future of Community. American Behavioural Scientist. 61(1), 101-124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215601714

Hampton, K. N. & Wellman, B. (2018). Lost and Saved . . . Again: The Moral Panic about the Loss of Community Takes Hold of Social Media. Contemporary Sociology. 47(6), 643-651. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2658596

Hilvert-Bruce, Z., Neill, J.T., Sjoblom, M. & Hamari, J. (2018). Social motivations of live-streaming viewer engagement on Twitch. Computers in human behaviour. 84(2), 58-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.013

May, S. (2022, March 28). Tears of joy: Alphonso Davies breaks down in tears on live Twitch stream as Canada qualify for 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Talk Sport. https://talksport.com/football/1073538/alphonso-davies-canada-qualify-2022-world-cup/

Nabatchi, T. & Leighninger, M. (2015). Public participation for 21st century democracy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. https://organizingengagement.org/models/types-of-engagement-thick-thin-and-conventional/

Sjoblom, M., Torhonen, M., Hamari, J. & Macey, J. (2019). The ingredients of Twitch streaming: Affordances of game streams. Computers in human behaviour. 92(2), 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.10.012.

Wong, A., Ho, S., Olusanya, O., Antonini, M., & Lyness, D. (2020). The use of social media and online communications in times of pandemic COVID-19. Journal of the Intensive Care Society. 22(3), 255–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/1751143720966280