From Virtual Strangers to IRL Friends: Relationship Development in Livestreaming Communities on Twitch

Accounts of the social experience within livestreaming channels vary widely, from the frenetic, “crowdroar” experience offered in some channels to the close-knit, “participatory communities” within others. How do livestreaming communities support the types of meaningful conversation and connection that lead to relationship development, and when? In this paper, we explore the development of personal relationships within Twitch, a popular livestreaming platform. Interviews with 21 pairs whose initial meetings occurred within Twitch channels illustrate how interactions originating in Twitch’s text-based, pseudonymous chat environment can develop into close relationships, marked by substantial trust and support. Consistent with Walther’s model of hyperpersonal interaction [ref], these environments facilitate self-disclosure and conversation by reducing physical cues and emphasizing common ground, and frequent, low-stakes interaction allow relationships to deepen over time. Our findings also highlight boundaries of the hyperpersonal model. As group size increases, participants leverage affordances for elevated visibility to spark interactions, and, as relationships deepen, they incorporate complementary media channels to increase intimacy. Often, relationships become so deep through purely computer-mediated channels that face-to-face meetings become yet another step in a continuum of relationship development. Findings from a survey of 1,367 members of Twitch communities demonstrate how the suitability of channels as venues for relational interaction decreases as communities increase in size. Together, these findings provide a vivid demonstration of how hyperpersonal interaction functions in the context of real online communities. We consider implications for the design and management of online communities which intend to foster the creation of close relationships among their members.