Twitch is a great way to meet new people who have similar interests as you. Where else can you meet up with hundreds of people and talk about video games and other things? All this social networking taking place may lead someone to wonder, is Twitch a social media?

Is Twitch a Social Media?

Twitch is not considered a social media platform. Although Twitch is a great way to meet, message and interact with other people across the world, those interactions are not the main focus of the platform. Therefore, Twitch has components of social media, but is not itself a social media. 

If you have used Twitch then you know that you can add friends, message (whisper) other users on the platform and create your own unique page (channel) just like you can on a social media platform.

However, the fact that Twitch is so heavily focused on live streaming is what does not qualify it as a social media. 

Even Twitch itself has a page about adding your social medias to your Twitch channel. They probably wouldn’t have a page like that if they were a social media.

Twitch also encourages you to promote your stream on different social media platform to help extend your reach. Again, what social media platforms tell you to promote on other platforms? 

So if Twitch isn’t a social media, what is it then?

What Kind of Platform is Twitch?

Twitch is considered a live streaming platform because live streaming is the primary focus of the platform. Although there are social media components to the platform such as being able to message and interact with other users, live streaming is the primary focus of the platform and therefore Twitch is considered a live-streaming platform. 

One could very well make a case that Twitch is indeed a social media platform, and you wouldn’t be wrong. There is a ton of networking and interactions that do take place on Twitch that would justify you feeling that way.

In fact, many people feel that live streaming is going to be the next big thing in regards to how people consume media. 

And with the recent rise of Twitch, they may be right. Twitch continues to see rapid growth and so only time will tell if Twitch moves away from being more of a broadcasting to more of a social media platform. 

But as it stands, Twitch is in a grey area between a social media platform and a live streaming platform, but given the heavy emphasis on live streaming, they are considered a live streaming platform rather than a social media platform. 

But regardless of what kind of platform Twitch is, is it even a good platform? There are so many live streaming platforms out there and so how can anyone know if it is worth it?

Is Twitch a Good Platform?

Twitch is a great platform for live streaming because it has the most streamers and viewers of any live streaming platform in the world. Twitch is also easy to navigate and to stream on and so whether you are new to live streaming or new to viewing live streams, Twitch is a good platform for you to use. 

I have used multiple live streaming platforms such as DLive, Facebook Gaming and Youtube Gaming and I can tell you that Twitch is by far the easiest to use. In my opinion it is hard to find streams that you are looking for on the other platforms. 

For example, I felt like on Youtube Gaming that the live streams were too crowded with videos. It can be confusing sometimes to find the live streams among all the videos.

I am not saying it is impossible, so stop the boomer jokes right there pal, but it is definitely not as straight forward as Twitch.

When you are on Twitch, it is the streamer’s live streams that are the main focus and all the other videos and stuff are secondary. Youtube Gaming is just not as straightforward as Twitch and that could easily turn off some new users. 

I felt the same way using Facebook Gaming as well. The categories and streams are hidden and you have to do some digging. I feel like they are always pressuring you to share Facebook Gaming on your personal Facebook as well which I don’t like.

Again, I feel like anyone could just hop on Twitch and find what they are looking for. Even a boomer. Which I am not. 

Lastly when it comes to Twitch vs. DLive, I actually really liked DLive. DLive is much smaller than both Facebook Gaming and Youtube Gaming, but I feel like the layout is a lot better.

Of the four live streaming platforms mentioned, I feel like DLive is the second easiest to navigate behind Twitch. 

There are however two things that I did not like about DLive. For one, it is the smallest of the four live streaming platforms that I mentioned.

Sometimes smaller can be better because there is less competition, but I had less people visit my streams on DLive than I did on Twitch. 

DLive is also more popular for “Just Chatting” and IRL streams than it is for video game streaming. So maybe if you do those kinds of streams you will have more luck than I did. But for video game streaming it just felt like the viewers were just not there. 

Another thing about DLive that was a challenge was getting the stream settings right. I felt like I had a lot of issues streaming (lag, video cutting out, etc.) because I didn’t have the right video settings.

I was told that on DLive you have to customize your stream settings a lot more than you do on Twitch which can be a little complicated and a little annoying for newer streamers.

In this regard Twitch is much better for just being able to load up and stream. I haven’t had to make a ton of adjustments to have a good quality stream on Twitch. 

For all these reasons and more, I feel like Twitch is a good platform, especially when compared to other major live streaming platforms.  

Is Twitch Just for Gamers?

Twitch is not just for gamers. There are hundreds of different categories on Twitch that include things from creating music, cooking, exercising or just chatting. Although gaming is the most popular thing streamed on Twitch, it is not the only thing streamed on the platform. Twitch is for everyone. 

In fact, over the past few years the IRL (In Real Life) streaming category has grown immensely on Twitch. This category includes all the things I mentioned above like cooking, exercising etc. as well as people doing things in real life like chilling at the beach or attending a concert. 

For more information on IRL streaming, check out my article on IRL streaming by clicking here.

Twitch may have started off being only for gamers, but this trend is rapidly changing. Twitch is for anyone looking to connect through live streaming. 

As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!

Twitch is a live streaming platform that has several characteristics of a social media platform. It is a great platform to use and is the most popular live streaming platform in the world. And that fact that it is not just for gamers makes it an option for anyone and everyone. 

Good Luck streaming out there my friends and may all of your streams come true!