Thread by @The_D3gausser

Oh boy I feel a #twitch mentality discussion coming on.
Somebody stop me before it becomes a #thread .
Seriously 'gaming' the system. 'grind' . 'harming numbers' im seeing a lot of these terms. And don't even get me started on the 'leave your link and ill check out' stuff.

TOO LATE! Alright, I was saving this for a series of videos, but whatever - feels good to vent. First off, I know - who am I?
This Non-partner idiot talking like he has a clue about anything.
Valid point. And to be honest one I don't have the answer to.

This is only what I FEEL - and what I
believe. And compared to the 80,0000 folks I see per day randomly spamming Bullshit in desperation for 'the grind'? hell - I'd say a belief carrys
at least some weight.

Want the input of somebody who has ran this stuff solo, had a decent amount of success, and more importantly, near a
decade of marketing and online analytical background? Strap in. Want to keep mindlessly spamming retweets on 72 hashtag pyramid schemes? enjoy
your 5 viewers.

1. You and goals. So I've been doing this about a year, and when i first started, was like a ton of y'all. No idea how the tech
worked, janky production, eventually finding your way into a follow for follow 'streamteam' loophole. Because MUST GET AFFILIATE!

Alright - then
what, whats your plan rockstar? You got affiliate now! whats next? bounce round twitter looking for free emotes and enjoying the heavily taxxed
bits and subs your new found status allows you?

even though straight donations have been an option day 1 and would have happened if people
thought your content was worth a damn? Y'all gonna share your affiliate invite email like it aint some kind of automated 'kicked out once
parameters are met' afterthought?

then host a SUPER HYPE WE GOT AFFILIATE STREAM! playing fortnite to your mom, your alt account, electricalskateboard
(but not your chatbot - you aint put that much work in yet) then wrap it up with a sense of pride?

Then two days later be hitting up the 'PATH
TO PARTNER STREAM HELP ME OUT GET ON THE GRIND!' - blissfully naive to the fact that the gulf between the two is SO LARGE that its
insurmountable to most?

Heres the thing. Theres NOTHING WRONG with having goals, but affiliate is barely worth it as a landmark - let alone an
accomplishment. And coming into this game with the mentality that it is? Twitch gonna be dead before you even LOOK at Partner.

You really want to stand
out? You REALLY want to be somebody that people talk about and think of? you gotta think miles ahead of that. From the get go. Get your
production ON POINT.

Not everybody can afford or even achieve logistically Drdisrespect levels of flash - but theres NOTHING stopping you researching
everything. Your stream settings, your frame rates, your audio levels and quality. I cannot emphasise this enough - AUDIO OVER EVERYTHING.

You can be
the best at the game - you can have smooth as hell visuals - if you sound like ass and I can hear your mom yelling at you to finish your
homework every 5 minutes? Im out.

First impressions are everything - and a new viewer rocking in and seeing you literally dont even understand how
OBS / xsplit works? aint gonna hang around. Nail. The. Basics.

2. THE GRIND This is gonna sound like a ridiculously backwards statement - but
in a game where everything is judged by numbers and metrics - numbers mean NOTHING. I'm serious. We've already established affiliate aint
something you should care about.

And partner is so far away your grandkids gonna be picking up the pieces of your home after the world powers push us
to nuclear oblivion before you hit it - so tell me. Why the hell you care about your follower count? your views? how many toxic
meme lords are in your discord?

None of these metrics are achievable through anything else other than honesty, smart networking and luck (more
on that in a minute).

I urge - no BEG you - stop using language like 'the grind' You dont get to sit and say you are 'just doing this for fun
and to meet cool people' at the same time as pushing out endless self promotion about 'the grind'.

If you literally dont even give a damn
about that stuff? this aint aimed at you - hell you aint even reading it. But for those that want a moderate level of success aint nobody gonna
give your affiliate begging - stream team promoted tweets a second glance.

You want
the endgame? you gotta build. ACTUALLY build. Which leads me onto...

3. Building a community Okay so you got your base tech on point, you look
fresh, you sound great, you aint running at 5 frames a second. Now you need folks to watch you. Your own personal stats here take a back seat. You need a community.

This is the most important part of your entire journey. Who are you. What do you value. What do you represent. If you
dont have an answer to those questions? Or cant live up to what you believe? or even worse - like some wonderful recent exposures - are false.

You are going to struggle - you are selling snake oil - and you are GOING to get caught. Heres another little diversion on the 'numbers dont
matter'

Honestly, your viewers, your followers - they are people - treating them like a commodity - like a METRIC - like literally a bar by which
your success is judged? Disrespectful as F - dont fuckin' do it.

A successful stream is built around a community - A commuity requires harmony,
and harmony comes from a wide range of people with different tastes, backgrounds, and exposures. But sharing a common interest - an interest in
you.

If you aint confident in yourself? and what you present? and what you champion? how you gonna attract the right people for YOU. You aint.

So many people begin streaming and end up with the DREGS of twitch drifting through their channel -yo, twitch fam - i love you - but for every
1 amazing human theres 1,000 racist 12 year old screechers.

These are often the first folks you encounter. And many people tolerate them and
keep them along because 'HEY BETTER THAN STREAMING TO NOBODY RIGHT?' Wrong. Numbers don't matter.

You streaming to nobody and an overly
talkative edgy motherfucker rolls in? if that aint what you champion (which if it is - by all means i guess) Ban that shit - keep it out

keeping
toxicity around for fear of lack of exposure is...I mean christ. Stupid is too soft a word for it. 1 person that is YOUR PERSON. Is worth 18
screaming trolls. That 1 person could expose you to others they know that are of a similar mindset. This is how community forms.

So what - how do
you attract 'the right people?' Youre spamming your notifications in every discord you belong in! youre retweeting every stream team
notification WHERE ARE YOUR PEOPLE?!?! Allow me to introduce you to..

4. Smart Networking. Heres the big one. 'Okay D3 - why dont
stream teams work and why your tweet game week! HELL I pushed out a tweet yesterday to my stream team hastag and got 56 RETWEETS! AND 2 people
came by and dropped raids on me to a total of 20 viewers! CHECKMATE ATHEISTS'

Oh my sweet summer child. lemme break it down for you.
Streamteams CAN work. In one way. You meet people.

I dont mean the folks that you say good morning to once every 3 days when you remember to leave your
own 20 populated discord to clear out the notifications of everyone tagging like crazy in the stream team one

I mean every now and then you
meet a diamond in that rough And there ARE some good ones out there - but i gotta tell you.

when you at the bottom every dude with 10 average viewers and 3,000 follow for follows and a nifty newspaper round achieved graphic
claiming to 'run a community' seems to have WAY MORE of an idea (spoilers, they dont)

about how this stuff works - and will OBVIOUSLY have your best
interest as a new person with nothing to offer (spoilers - they dont) and do their utmost to push you to the stars (spoilers, they wont)

Heres the
411. Jeff goldbluum style.
1. streamer at top creates 'stream community'
2. Streamer gains a large following of eager beavers that will show up
every stream - retweet every tweet - all in the hope of gaining the glorious....

3. HOST FROM THE BIG STREAM NAME! YOU GOT IT! THEY HOSTED YOU!
YOU! YOU GOT 12 FOLLOWERS FROM THEIR 30 PERSON HOST! WOW! I mean after 10 minutes they all left and none of them ever came back but THAT
AFFILIATE TARGET THOUGH!

4. Maybe one or two of these ever come back - if you're lucky a few more do but only because they assume you'll do the same
to them. 5. Rinse repeat until natural growth comes to a flatline and you quit. Its a false economy. And it sucks.

'The first hit is free'
because it feels so good - it keeps you engrossed in the 'community' and you chase that dragon - your NUMBERS (that dont matter) your NUMBERS on
social media are so HIGH!

you are gaining 40 retweets (all from other people in that community slacktivating their way through retweets in the
hope you'll follow their account and retweet theirs)

I mean, you still aint ACTIVELY having anybody interacting properly or actually propping
you up - but at least that tweet number means people are seeing you? RIGHT?!

Now I understand this all sounds very... cynical. And honestly, I
agree - but much like 'viewrs to troll BS' the ratio of communities that arent pyramid schemes and circle jerks is...super small. And every day I
see SO MANY people, falling into these traps. People. Please. Stop.

Trust in yourself and your own content. Trust in the Natural bonds you make
and the viewers that resonate with you. Dont buy into misguided circle jerking and mistake it for growth the way a 14 year old kid mistakes a
smile from a crush as love.

So okay if thats wrong? whats right? how DO you network? Glad you asked. Spend less time streaming. Find games you
enjoy and people streaming them. Hang around in their channels, find streamers that are a good fit. Meet their viewers, make ACTUAL FRIENDSHIPS.

Hell even that doesnt guarantee they'll be interested in checking you out. But its a start.

If you combine genuine interest in people, with a
strong idea of yourself and how you are presented - with all the basics covered and tech on point and use social media EFFICIENTLY - THEN you
might start to see the foundation of something. with a bit of 'Luck'.

5. Luck. Luck is a great term. Luck is a golden goose (Oh i hope i can be
so lucky) Luck is a great fall guy (Oh Im just unlucky) Luck is a fantastic spite weapon (oh well if I WAS lucky enough to get a host like
that I'D be doing much better).

Luck is false. Luck isnt some stat you get once you pass the age of 21 and can finally put your stats into
something other than the core 3 metrics. Luck is actually a combination of Preparation, and Opportunity. If you cover everything we
so far, and live and die by it

you will be 'adequately' prepared as a foundation. After that? its about opportunity. Sometimes these fall
into your lap - sometimes you gotta work hard for them - but heres the thing about opportunity

is the more you work at it (this doesnt mean
6000 retweets and host for hosts) the more opportunities present themselves. You aint seeing opportunity? you aint prepared enough to recognise
them

Now onto the thing that spurred this all on. Social media. 6. Social me...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE STOP. Honestly if you've made it
this far, have a cookie - you made it to the part I ACTUALLY know about.

We've already covered your twitter follows - retweets etc all stay
within your streamteams and are a huge circle jerk that achieve nothing? cool. Heres another hot tip for you.

Did you know that after 3 hashtags
and a couple of account tags your visibility and effectiveness of tweets actually DIMINISH? Cool huh!?

Wow that seems like the kind of thing
stream teams and 'shout out accounts' would PROBABLY be aware of and educate you on right? like if they knew what they were doing? right? and had
your bets interests in mind....right?

Every tweet with a billion 'stream boosting' hashtags and accounts tagged...yeah - gues what. dont work.
This is not an opinion. This is fact. you might get 'numbers on the tweet' but most will be automated and none that are manual will care.

Lets
do two experiments here shall we? Pick your account that you retweet every time you go live to shout you out. Go on! Alright now go look at
that accounts actual output and see how many porn/spam accounts are automatically tweeted out by it. Go ahead. Ill wait. Neet huh!

Thats your
audience. Thats where your tweets are going. Stop it. Tag the game youre playing by all means! tag maybe one or two things as well! maybe you
streaming WITH someone. Get them in there! maybe you have a saying or community in joke! go for it!

Everything else? stop. You're harming yourself.
Also - whats attached to it? Humans are lazy - we are visually focused and more inclined to pick up images and movement than a long list of
words (im aware of the hypocrisy here)

SO..how do we make your tweet stand out? I know! A REALLY SPED UP TOAD GIF SAYING HYPE! no... okay HOW
ABOUT CHRIS PRATT WITH HIS MOUTH AGAPE TURNING TOWARDS THE CAMERA!. Again. No. Heres another tip.

You give a fuck about your social media? use a
3rd party like tweetdeck - track a ton of keyphrases related to twitch - and see exactly how many per second roll through with identikit builds
just like that. Yup - you 1 in 52,000 a second using that gif playing that game.

The key thing if you REALLY want to
make yourself stand out? You, your content. People are WAY more likely to watch an attached clip of you playing a game in the past - than they
will EVER - EVER a random fucking gif of a HYPE toad

And not only that - it gives them an idea of how your channel is Without even having to
click through to it or sign in. If you aint comfortable enough in using your own content as advertising why the fuck should i care about it on
stream?

Good question huh. Recently im seeing a lot of 'HEY I WANNA CHECK OUT MORE STREAMERS LINK YOUR CHANNEL HERE AND RETWEET FOR EXPOSURE!'

Sure, a couple of em might. Letting you in on a secret here, Y'all are dropping the follows and linking the accounts hoping they come round to
check you out.

They getting your numbers, they tweets looking MIGHTY - they MUST be a notable name! better join in! Oh theres a lot of people in
here now all doing this

i'm sure they WILL check me out with all of these people behind them that ARENT totally just retweets from people like
me doing the same thing!

theres just a lot to get through. Be smarter. Do better. Theres a ton more i could go on about but honestly -
I've got the most of my vent out - so thanks if you stayed this long. I aint gonna say check me out - my channel aint built for the majority of
twitch.

But i will say at least PLEASE stop shouting into this void of pyramid bullshit - build your channel in the bets image of you and make
actual friends - stay away from pyramid BS and have a great weekend. Here have your fucking Hype toad.