Following on from launching photo and text Stories last year, Twitch is now introducing video Stories, allowing streamers to shoot 60-second videos in the Twitch mobile app or upload videos from their camera roll.
Twitch sees the new feature as a way for streamers to take their audience with them when they're on the go or away from their streaming environment. Streamers typically share short, behind-the-scenes content in places like Instagram Stories and maybe TikTok, but now Twitch wants streamers to share on its own platform as well.
Snapchat popularized the Stories format over a decade ago, and since then the feature has been adopted by almost every popular social media and messaging platform on the market, including Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and smaller startups.
In addition to helping Twitch streamers reach viewers on the go, the company sees Video Stories as a way for streamers to connect with their audience. For example, streamers can ask questions in their videos or encourage viewers to fill out polls. Streamers can also use the @mentions tool to create personalized videos to promote new subscribers. Additionally, streamers can use Video Stories to share clips and highlights from their recent streams. They can also promote upcoming streams or notify users of schedule changes.
Twitch hopes that streamers will no longer need to use other social media platforms like Instagram to interact with their audiences and keep them updated about their streams and daily lives, though it's unlikely that top creators will put all their eggs in one basket.
While text and photo Stories launched only on mobile, Twitch is now making all Stories accessible from its web app as well, and the company says it made Stories accessible on the web because that's where viewers spend most of their time on Twitch.