Updates to Discovery
Whenever we talk with streamers about how Twitch can help them, how to find an audience is one of the topics that comes up most often. With more than 2 million streamers and counting going live on Twitch each month it’s easy to understand why this is top of mind.
We don’t believe Twitch should be a popularity contest. So much of what makes Twitch special are the interactions between streamers and their viewers and viewers chatting with each other. Some people want to feel the roar of the crowd and rally around epic gameplay, while others want a more intimate experience with familiar faces. Since finding the right communities and new streamers to connect with can be difficult, we’ve been working on ways to make forming those long lasting connections easier even as we grow.
Today, we’re giving insight into work that will help viewers discover new channels, choose streams, and find what they’re looking for. Each project is labeled in one of three phases of development:
Live: Projects that have launched recently with links to more information and any actions streamers can take.
In progress: These are things that will be launching in the coming weeks. We’ll give a description, specific dates and, where possible, include visual mocks. • For example: New homepage! We’re rolling out a brand new homepage that features personalized recommendations for every logged in viewer based on what they’ve watched previously.
Planning: For work in this category we’ll outline the basic issue we’re trying to solve and solutions we’re exploring. These projects won’t have schedules or timelines, but we want the community to know they’re on our radar and have the opportunity to ask questions as the work progresses. • For example: We’re building a more intuitive, consistent tagging system so streamers can better describe their stream and viewers can filter by what they want to see.
Any projects that we believe will have high impact or require action from streamers will be marked with an additional “Streamer Heads Up!” label so you won’t miss the most important updates.
We’ll add new categories and projects as they develop and update labels on each as the work progresses. And, true to Twitch’s live, shared, and interactive nature, we’re going to stream a discussion with the community every month, starting this Friday, where we’ll gladly take questions and address any areas of concern.
We know Twitch isn’t just a service or a job to streamers. It’s a community they’ve devoted passion, energy, and countless hours into building alongside us. We try to recognize that in everything we do at Twitch; “streamers-first” is the mantra that underpins every product, every engineering and design decision, and every launch. We want streamers to be excited about the work and opportunities ahead, not anxious or confused about the potential effects.
Our hope is that in sharing our plans around discovery early, streamers will be better prepared for those changes. With such a diverse range of communities and a decade of products in various degrees of usage, every new product release carries the risk that we miss how a small corner of our community is using it. Sharing our plans early helps us spot those corner cases before launch.
So please head on over to link.twitch.tv/discoveryupdates to check out the work for yourself, and don’t forget to join us at www.twitch.tv/twitch at 2pm PST this Friday, June 29th as we talk through everything on it.