STREAM REPORT NEWSLETTER

#146

Twitch’s New “Drop Ins” Feature: Game Changer or Gimmick?

August 21, 2024

Welcome to Stream Report, a newsletter from Gaming Careers covering important news and updates in streaming and content creation.

In this issue: Twitch’s new feature, Drop Ins, aims to make collaborations between streamers quicker and easier. But is it all it's cracked up to be?

Understanding Twitch’s New “Drop Ins” Feature

Understanding Twitchs New Drop Ins Feature
Understanding Twitch’s New “Drop Ins” Feature

Drop Ins is a new feature within Twitch’s Stream Together that lets streamers “drop in” on each other’s live streams without the hassle of pre-planning. Here’s how it works:

  • Audio & Video Setup: Once accepted, you can easily set up audio and video through OBS or other streaming software.
  • Check Availability: While streaming, you can see if your followed channels or other streamers are available for collaboration.
  • Knock to Join: If they are available, you can “knock” on their door. They will receive a private notification and can choose to let you join.
Understanding Twitchs New Drop Ins Feature 2
Twitch Drop Ins: Knock to Join

The Catch: No Permanent Opt-Out

While the feature seems promising, there is a significant drawback: No permanent opt-out. You can only pause the feature for “1 Hour” or “This Stream.” It automatically turns back on for every new stream, effectively forcing its use. This could lead to unwanted interruptions, even with the ability to pause requests temporarily.

Key Features

Drop Ins offers various features to manage your collaborations effectively. You can easily accept or decline collaboration requests directly from the notification and control who can request to collaborate with you through your Favorites settings.

Understanding Twitchs New Drop Ins Feature 3
Twitch Drop Ins: Collaboration Settings

Twitch has also integrated safety features such as moderation, request cooldowns, reporting, and channel block/ban features to protect against harassment.

Final Thoughts

Twitch seems adamant about making the Guest Star/Stream Together/Drop Ins feature a major part of streaming on the platform. They’ve been putting significant developer resources into this feature for a few years, and it still seems limited in use across the platform.

Will Drop Ins be the feature that pushes more streamers to use Stream Together? Who knows, but it certainly looks like Twitch wants you to use it with its limited ability to be disabled permanently.

Learn More

🔥 Pete’s Content Corner

Delve into my weekly selection of content creation highlights—handpicked videos, podcasts, and tweets that promise to captivate, educate, and entertain.

  1. Video Stories are now available for all Twitch affiliates and partners, with web viewing also launched.
  2. Creators in Twitch’s new DJ Program will face a new music enforcement system starting in September.
  3. YouTube now allows viewers to add Likes and Replies to Super Chats.

edition:

#146

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The founder of Gaming Careers with a borderline unhealthy obsession for cameras, microphones, and all things streaming. He gets mistaken for Stephen Merchant at least 5 times a day.

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