Ahead of TwitchCon Las Vegas, Twitch is launching stories for streamers to connect with their audience even when they aren’t live.
Partners and Affiliates who have streamed at least once for 45 minutes or longer in the last 30 days are eligible to post stories, which are viewable for any of their followers and subscribers on the Twitch mobile app. Unlike Instagram and Snapchat’s story features, which last for 24 hours, Twitch stories expire after 48 hours. Streamers who have at least 30 subscribers can post exclusive stories for their subscribers. The feature will roll out to eligible streamers over this week,
“You’ve built a loyal community on Twitch and your followers likely follow you on other platforms,” Twitch senior product manager Eduardo Fenili wrote in a blog post announcing stories. “But we’ve heard form you that trying to connect with them through multiple services limits your reach and can feel rather disconnected from your shared experiences on Twitch.”
Fenili added that feature will make reaching out to followers easier through Twitch, so that streamers don’t have to use another social media platform to let their audience know when they’re going live or if they’re running late. Followers can turn on push notifications and receive alerts when their favorite streamers post a new story.
In addition to posting photos and text posts to stories, eligible Twitch streamers can also post clips from their channel or another channel. Viewers will be able to react to stories with Twitch emotes, and streamers will be able to see views and reaction counts on their stories to track the content that best resonates with their community.
“And remember, your stories don’t need to be all business,” Fenili wrote. “If you want to post a picture of your breakfast and spark a community debate about which cereals are S-tier, go for it. Encourage your viewers to participate through emote reactions to sound off on your story before the great cereal debate happens on the next stream. It’s all about staying in touch and deepening those connections, anytime you want.”
Twitch noted that the platform employs “automated scanning measures” to prevent streamers from uploading harmful content. Stories must abide by Twitch’s Community Guidelines, and viewers will be able to report content that violates the platform’s safety standards.
Twitch said it plans to release additional story features in the coming months, like creating polls, tagging other streamers and launching editing capabilities. The company announced a slew of new tools during TwitchCon Paris earlier this year, and has been rolling out new features like its discovery feed and anti-harassment measures over the last few months.