How Twitch is drawing inspiration from the giants of social networking

Twitch recently unveiled several new features inspired by popular platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. The streaming platform is seeking to transform the user experience and rival its competitors.

Although these innovations are billed as new for the Twitch streaming platform, they draw heavily on features already popular on other social networks.

One major announcement concerns the redesign of the Twitch mobile app, for the first time since 2019. “While most of the time people spend on Twitch comes from our desktop experience, 70% of new viewers start watching Twitch on mobile – and this number is growing. Viewers spend more time watching a stream when they are on a desktop, but they come to Twitch more regularly from their mobile devices,” the platform explains in a blog post.

Inspired by TikTok, the new app will feature infinite news feeds where users can discover live streams from streamers they don’t yet follow, based on their previous views.

In addition, stories similar to those seen on Snapchat and Instagram will be featured at the top of the news feed, along with short-form content, reminiscent of TikTok videos and YouTube Shorts.

Twitch is also working on activating the PIP (Picture-In-Picture) function for Android, enabling users to view the list of channels they follow without leaving the channel they’re currently watching – a feature already available on YouTube.

Another major new feature is the launch of the Streamer Achievement Program. This program aims to reward streamers for their outstanding performance by offering them “Bleed Purple” trophies, available in three tiers: purple for more than five million hours watched, marble for more than 50 million hours watched and chrome for more than 250 million hours watched. This initiative echoes YouTube’s Creator Awards: silver for 100,000 subscribers, gold for one million subscribers, diamond for 10 million subscribers and red diamond for 100 million subscribers.

At the recent TwitchCon Europe event, bringing together streamers and users, and held in Rotterdam at the end of June, streamer LitlleBigWhale was honoured live on stage at the Glitch Theater with the very first “Bleed Purple” trophy.

With all these new features, Twitch no doubt hopes to attract even more viewers while strengthening its appeal and its competitiveness. – AFP Relaxnews