In search of a platform

One of the problems with being an early adopter is sometimes you jump to new platforms, invest your energies and fight to win an audience, and… the platform goes away (I’m looking at you Google+), or people just stop using it (Remember the great blog die off when Google Reader was retired?), and sometimes… a platform just isn’t quite right for what you’re trying to do.

As I sit here at T-2weeks and counting before the launch of a new podcasting/streaming season, I’m trying to figure out if I’m using the wrong streaming platform. Back in 2017, Ashley Paramore (@healthyaddict) reached out and said, “Come be part of Space Week on Twitch!” and I said “Yes, I will be part of Space Week on Twitch!” and thus began what has become a 5 year journey of streaming on Twitch.

But I wouldn’t say we’ve been entirely successful, and right now I’m trying to decide if Twitch is where I want to stay.

With both my personal work and podcasting, I’m using Twitch to record shows in front of a live studio audience, to stream ephemeral content that is only meant to be seen live, and sometimes we do ninja streaming of rocket launches, or other activities. We don’t get large audiences, and the kind of streaming we’re doing — an hour here and an hour there — doesn’t seem to be the kind of content Twitch audiences want. As Fraser Cain accurately put it, Twitch is a platform where viewers expect streamers to be there for long periods of time and to make them feel wanted and entertained. It is the streaming equivalent of being a Geisha (minus the…