Is Twitch a Culture?

By Tori Mayes

Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to make friends and have a social life, due to the fact that most social interaction takes place online. There is potential to make friends on the other side of the world and even more potential to reach out to friends who you know locally in an easier way. There is a space for everybody, and no better platform demonstrates that better than Twitch; a live-streaming service that people use to interact with audiences while playing video games, cooking, drawing, or even just chatting. In early 2025, it’s reported that about 7 million people who use the site are active streamers. That is 7 million people who are actively choosing to share part of their lives with the world, and over 240 million active users who are engaging with these streams by using the chat or simply just viewing the stream.

The culture on Twitch seems so vastly different from any other social media platform. YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram all have live streaming options as well, but there is something different about Twitch. Sure there are always going to be the internet trolls who try to take away from the fun, but each person’s stream always feels like they have their own tight-knit community, no matter how many viewers they are averaging on any given day. It could be 2, it could be 200, yet the streamers have their own ways of engaging and having fun, and the viewers – for the most part – are usually kind and understanding of their place as viewers.

There are certain etiquettes on Twitch that most people somehow magically know, and those who don’t are lovingly taught by others in chat that do. Lurking is a prime example of this; it is the act of having the stream on in the background and not engaging with the chat, helping the streamer by upping their view count. Most streamers will set up what is known as a “lurk command” where all the viewer has to do is type “!lurk” in the chat and it’ll allow them to tell the community they won’t be as active in the chat anymore. It is something that most streamers expect their audience to know, but as with anything, of course not everyone knows this. But it is seen time and time again that the people who don’t know will end up being taught in a way that is super wholesome and welcoming. This happens with any streaming element that streamers have with the things they do.

With anything on the internet, it’s obvious you need to tread carefully. But Twitch is a good place to find yourself if you want to feel like a part of a community. Attend streams, educate yourself on different rules and roles of yourself as a viewer for the different streams you attend, and if you want to, start your own path as a streamer. Streaming on your own has the added benefit of boosting your confidence levels once you’ve found the right people in your own community. Being able to talk openly to an audience of any size takes some practice and this is a great way to do so since you aren’t able to see your audience the same way you would if you were giving a speech for class.

All in all, the sense of belonging that you can achieve by being active on Twitch is worth a lot. Interacting with others on that level is something priceless and really helps you feel like you are part of something great. And making friends in this environment can help you feel like you are on top of the world. Next time you want to doom-scroll social media, try taking this half step back and interact in someone’s Twitch chat instead.