How does Twitch work?

What is Twitch?

Twitch is an interactive livestreaming service for content like gaming, entertainment, sports, music, and more; you can stream on PC, Mac, Xbox, Playstation, or your mobile phone.

It’s a great place to interact with your community and create awesome live experiences.

How can I sign up to Twitch?

Simply head over to https://www.twitch.tv/  and create an account.

Are there any Requirements to join?

It’s completely free to sign up and start streaming.

I would recommend checking out the Twitch 101 creator camp to get a full walkthrough Twitch Creator Camp

 

It’s a great guide going through:

• Getting Started
• Going live
• General tips
• Community growth
• Content monetisation
• Copyrights and your channel
• Customisation
• Rules, policy’s, guidelines and more!

 

Some top tips:

It’s important to have a stream schedule and stick to it, think of it as a TV show that people tune in to watch on a specific day; your viewers also need to know what your stream schedule is, so it’s important that you communicate this with them.

Make sure the lighting is good in the room and that the volume is at a nice level.

Also be yourself and enjoy it!

 

For system requirements, video and audio settings check out this Page

Recommended software for broadcasting check here most people I’ve seen use OBS Studio as its very user friendly and free to use.

For more information check out this going Live documentation

How does twitch make money?

Twitch makes money by running ads on your stream and collecting a portion of bits and subscriptions made to your channel.

How can I make money using Twitch?

You can monetise your channel through bits and subscriptions.

These are individual contributions and subscriptions to the channel.

I’ve gone into more detail below:

 

Subscriptions 

A viewer can pay a monthly subscription to your channel to support you; this would give them access to emotes and other unique benefits that you can create on your twitch channel page.

Bits

A viewer can use bits as a one off payment to show support your channel; they can do this with a cheer or celebration of something that’s happened, or use it to vote for something to happen on stream as an example.

Ads

If you become an affiliate member or partner on Twitch, you will have the option to run Ads on your  stream which will also generate revenue.

Check out Twitch’s documentation on Making money with Twitch

How do I stay safe on Twitch?

You need to remember that you are live streaming, and you can’t just edit something out if things go wrong.

Unfortunately, there are some bad people out there who always try to take advantage of others, causing harm and doing Illegal activities. Being a streamer will attract viewers and the more popular you get, the more chance of people trying to take advantage and potentially causing harm in various ways like Doxing, swatting, and real-life threats. 

So, before you go live, stop and do a security check.

Check out Twitch’s safety: page

 

There is no guarantee that you will prevent this from happening, but it’s important to do some checks to prevent this as much as possible:

• Search yourself online and see what information is publicly available.
• Check all your social media accounts and lock them down and make it all private.
• Make your usernames, handles and profiles are private.
• Remove any personal information like phone numbers, emails and any address information that might be linked to you.
• Avoid discussing any personal information that might reveal any personal information, including things that might be linked to your password, address etc.
• Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) where possible so that it encrypts your data, identity and location including IP address
• Avoid using free Wi-Fi, it’s so easy now to create a fake network; especially with tools freely available to buy on the internet. I don’t recommend connecting to any free Wi-Fi or network at all as you don’t know who has created it, even if you’re at a hotel, coffee shop or public place.
• Add your personal information like address, number & Email to the banned words list on Twitch chat settings, this way someone can’t leak it live on stream.
• If you have a website linked to your stream, make sure it’s domain details are private, domain registrations are public to search but can be made private. WHOIS, a database of all registered domain names on the web.

If you are a popular streamer, it might be worth contacting your local police department and let them know you are a streamer to help prevent swatting.  

How to report an issue on Twitch?

If you have any issues and need to report an issue to twitch, check out this link for reporting an issue: Link

What is doxing?

Doxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent.

What is swatting?