Building a Twitch community as a Producer (MOD)

How focusing on community management keeps compounds positive vibes.

Web 3.0 is exciting because I see it as a wonderland of decentralized content creators. Self-published professional quality broadcasting has been creeping into the DIY difficulty level. Because I’m an audio nerd, I’ve seen it mature through that lens. 

Anchor/Spotify has made it simple to push a button and publish a podcast. Podcastindex.org and the Podcasting 2.0 movement have made directly supporting creators under the value4value model heartwarming.

Remember taking turns playing PS2 with friends on the couch?

It wasn’t until the pandemic that I started to spend some time on Twitch. Being able to hang out with friends on the couch and play video games, have some drinks and chat about esoteric things, or even watch a live music gig, are now all possible via the internet— and with substantially fewer barriers (for the viewer anyway).

My wife started streaming games four months ago. Her niche (so far) is indy horror, with an outward mission of wholesome vibes in a safe space for all. Namely creating a bubble away from some of the more toxic, super competitive, and completionist aspects other genres can exhibit.

She’s coined it “Wholesome Horror,” which is the title of every broadcast. As her mod and producer, I’ve worked to support that mission and help boost the community with a couple of internal directives that I think about before taking any action.

People who donate their time, talent, and treasure are called producers.

First, I think of every viewer, chat member, lurker, and discord member as a fellow producer. Because that’s what they are.

For even one individual to take the time out of their night and watch just a few minutes of the stream is significant. I know how much I value my time, so the feeling isn’t foreign to me. So I treat them with the respect a producer deserves. The beauty of live broadcasts is producers (viewers) have an active participatory role in the content.

When someone jumps into the chat (and subsequently joins the discord server), I always immediately welcome them by name. Ask them how they’re doing, or bring them into the conversation. As they interact back and forth with others in the chat, I keep it going. I do this with every single person. Always.

Keep the good vibes rolling.

Imagine if you’re invited to a party, walk through the door, and no one greets you. There are those small literal circles of people talking together; maybe a couple turns their head to glance at you, then abruptly return to whatever they were doing. It’s pretty awkward.

Or, if you're in a group chat thread, you have a relatable story to what is being discussed. So you write more than a few dense lines about a personal experience that may or not leave you vulnerable— but you do it anyway because you want to feel that connection and contribute. But no one responds; the chat skips over it and keeps going. Awkward.

These are not generating enjoyable vibes. It’s not what I’d like to feel, not how I want new community members to feel, and not how I’d wish existing community members to behave toward other new members.

Be kind. Repeat.

I come from the creative side of the marketing world, so the idea that creativity is one of those things that gets easier to do the more you do it is something I believe strongly. Do you know what else behaves that way? Kindness.

It’s addictive and contagious. Setting that example and reinforcing it every time an opportunity builds that mission of wholesome vibes. It raises the overall quality of the conversations that happen. It makes new producers (viewers) feel instantly at home. And it keeps them engaged while giving them ownership of what they’re contributing. 

Those are the people that continue to show up at the start of every broadcast, who use the channel points, that use the channel emotes, who subscribe, who cheer, and who stick around during raids to copy/paste the raid message. Not because of their affinity to the streamer or their brand, but for the community and conversation they’ve made.

Community at scale is built by being excellent to one another.

In a little over four months, the channel has grown to over 200 followers, of which about 15% are subscribers and a steady double-digit average viewership. This growth is scalable because the channel’s mission is “Wholesome Horror,” and every action supports it.

If you want to see it in action, and you’re into millennial parents spending their limited free time playing indy horror games a few times a week, and an awesome community, stop by for the best stream and follow on Twitch.