Chapter 6: Networking (Properly)

While everything I've covered so far is important, the subject of this guide is especially so because like channel panels, there are way too many streamers who don't network while there are far too many who do what's called 'false engagement' (explained below) and try to pass it off as networking.

As stated earlier, just because no one is coming by your streams starting off, it doesn't mean you're a bad streamer.

It may simply be that you need to introduce yourself to other streamers and their communities.

Be it social media such as Twitter and Instagram, having your own Discord server, or any of multiple social media sites dedicated to gaming (see below as well with links), multiple options exist for connecting with other streamers and your viewers outside of the site you stream on.

So the question you may ask is, what makes networking so important?

If you browse through Twitch or other streaming sites at any given time, you will see one constant occurrence no matter what time it is, day or night.

Channels currently live.

For smaller sites such as Trovo, THETA, and Glimesh (when it launches) there may not be a huge list of names given each are relatively new at the time of this post. That could of course change in the future depending on the lifespan of any streaming site.

One common outlook is that with how long Twitch has been around and how many people use the site, that also raises a very high bar for any new site that comes along with intent to be an alternative.

Though sometimes, something that exists longer runs the risk of decay and collapse if it isn't properly maintained.

Sidenote: For those familiar with (or not familiar with) Brime, I'm including them in this to give the benefit of a doubt.

But to be honest without sugarcoating this? They're lacking credibility in producing a truly legitimate streaming site given how they've responded to criticism of their behavior by banning people from their Discord and on Twitter.

I also included them here because what I stated above is an example of bad networking.

Don't get me wrong, because even though I tossed shade there? I do want them to succeed and be about what they say they are. Bad networking can be improved.

But at the same time the stream community has already had enough disarray going on without a potential streaming site trolling those interested in joining it, so they seriously need to grow up, especially given their promise of being transparent and about community first.

Their case also isn't helped by also claiming to give partnerships to all the people who joined their supposed closed alpha, which in itself is a terrible idea in the same vein as a streamer giving a user mod status just because they asked compared to granting it to someone who would be responsible and prove they'd be a good choice for a mod because they earned it over time (see part 11: Mod Influence).

It's also worth mentioning another brand that's popped up called LUNR, which unlike Brime has an actual site that those interested can sign up for instead of some closed alpha nonsense like Brime, which going by a banner one would be met with recently after typing in Brime's url (before it was removed), they're supposedly only 35% complete which I would say is too early to do a closed alpha let alone grant ANY kind of site access.

LUNR also has a very small bit of merch available in the form of a jacket for breast cancer awareness, and from what I could see? Much less showings of toxicity, if any.

LUNR's social media following is small, but it at least shows signs of organic growth and genuine interest compared to the 70k+ followers on Brime's Twitter for a site no one has even seen yet based off of hype (they snowballed around the time people thought Dr Disrespect and Ninja would be a part of the staff).

It's still way too early to tell if LUNR will be 100% about what they've put forward so far, but at the same time they also are transparent, responsive, and even give out discount codes for their merch.

I could write a whole guide listing the pros and cons of each streaming site I've tried out with my own opinion on each one, but instead I would suggest checking out each that I've listed (again, including Brime) yourself and factor your own opinion on potential choices for where you broadcast.

I personally have made it clear that I'm all in on being exclusive to Glimesh when they get going, because I have a lot of faith in them, but instead of saying 'Glimesh is going to be the best choice so I suggest going there' I want people to go where their own mind suggests they go.

Even though I've expressed a bit of my negative views on Brime? If they end up being legitimate and you want to set up shop there? Go for it.

Twitch has caught much heat over the years which I feel is primarily deserved, but if you want to broadcast there? It's your call to make and no one elses.

Caffeine is yet another option and has a unique layout for their chat. I myself am not the biggest fan of that layout and they seem to of shifted their focus from gaming, but once again, if it interests you to where you want to set up shop there? Try it out.

For me what I see as proper networking is not condemning other streamers just because they stream somewhere that you don't and honestly? I've never understood that mentality.

Especially when a streamer decides to go somewhere else and most of those who originally backed them on the previous site suddenly act like it would be the end of existence for them to just make an account where the streamer is setting up shop, and continue supporting them.

Fact is, 'gasp!' plot twist! You can be on one site and stream there/support people there and also support people on another site.

It doesn't make you a 'traitor' or some other asinine negative label tossed at you by those who show a practically elitist favoritism for a particular site. It makes you an individual who's mature to the point of not letting site bias as pointless as left Twix vs right Twix keep you from supporting someone who themselves did what they felt was best for themselves.

I myself have suffered such with one example being that when I switched from Mixer to Twitch? I had several people telling me that I was getting trash talked in Discord servers because of it.

Irony? The same individuals trashing me for a choice that honestly was none of their business? They at some point or another had left one streaming site for elsewhere all the same before or after they condemned me for it.

Regardless of what streaming site we're on, we're all still going live for an audience to share our passion in some capacity, which is why my own Discord server (while small due to making another one) is set up to where one can join and click a reaction on my welcome page, which will give them roles for whatever site they are a part of out of those listed ( Currently I have roles for Glimesh/Twitch/YouTube/Facebook Gaming/Trovo, though I plan to add one for LUNR and another for Brime once I see if they are actually legitimate).

If interested in doing this for your own server, this guide by EagleGarrett is the one I went by.

Now moving on.

Twitch is of course the biggest livestreaming site out there compared to the others listed. Outside of YouTube Gaming? It's closest competitor was Mixer before it went belly up.

So of course if you click on any of the popular games being streamed? You'll find a LOT of people live at the same time in a seemingly endless wall.

With so many channels live at any given time 24/7? This can make it hard to be noticed depending on what game you're playing while other streamers are placed higher up due to more viewers watching at once.

As stated in part 4, its not higher numbers of followers that give higher placement and as I'll explain in part 7? Playing what's currently hot doesn't guarantee you're going to be noticed either.

Once again, higher viewership retention equals higher placement on that wall, which of course means higher chance of more people possibly coming in to check you out.

In my time on Mixer, I placed relatively high on the main page multiple times, having been featured on multiple occasions as well. At those times people came in saying I was being featured, though I stated that while I was thankful? There were plenty of smaller streamers than myself who deserved it more than me.

A few times of these ocassions, I was up in the first or at least second columns during two 24 hour Extra Life charity streams. I was boosted by someone with 50 viewers themselves who came in and raided me on one of those occasions while the other was because several streamers hosted me after ending their streams, which of course raised my concurrent viewers a lot as well.

At the time I had around 700 or so followers, but was higher on the front page than some streamers who had several thousand follows but 20 or so viewers.

Nothing to brag about in my own view and as I stated to my viewers, being featured while a positive experience (minus a few trolls) just wasn't as important to me in the context of the number of people watching compared to the streamers on the site who obsessed over getting Hypezoned.

I just wanted to put on a good show for those who watched. If they followed or even talked? I was grateful, but if not, I was still glad they came. Either way I hoped that after my time being featured ended, it would roll over to the channel of someone small who really needed a boost.

So this brings a question of how one places higher without any of what I mentioned?

Excluding being raided, hosted, or some type of function on a site that showcases them for a set period, how does a streamer raise their active viewers in a manner that's more consistent more frequently, compared to one off occurrences of help from a more watched channel who sent their viewers over?

Down the line as you gain followers and thus more legitimate supporters, you'll find yourself higher on the front page just from regulars coming in and watching you and in that aspect? Yes it gets easier.

But in your first days of streaming, networking ala going by other channels and chatting with fellow streamers and their viewers compared to simply expecting others to make contact is something that can help your growth substantially.

If anything, you should continue to do this regardless of how far along you are in regards to building relationships and supporting others aside from yourself, especially if you're a variety streamer like myself that doesn't attract as much of a crowd due to not really focusing on playing the top games on the site currently.

As with any community irl, if you are a recluse, its far less likely you will achieve interaction from others who don't see you around because you stick to your house.

From just socializing in someone's chat, you'd be surprised who out of their viewers might just swing by your page, see that you stream, and drop a follow as well as that streamer giving you a shoutout on their stream.

This is another avenue of why having panels on your channel is important because panels and networking actually have a sort of synergy.

Let's say you're trying to network with another streamer and their viewers? It doesn't look well on your end if that streamer tries to help your growth only for his/her viewers to see that you don't even have your channel properly set up.

But just like the subject of part 9 (dead air), networking is one of the trickiest skills to master for a streamer, more so difficult than dead air actually and if anything? Arguably the toughest skill to master for a streamer period.

Not every streamer will suffer from being unable to network effectively. As much as I hate the concept of stereotyping? In the vein of a Broadcasters Breakfast Club you've got some streamers who are good at networking because they were social in school and work environments. That or they just have a natural air of charisma about them and just excel at going to other channels and having water like fluidity in merging with that streamer and their community.

This is compared to someone who is withdrawn, has a hard time to talking to others, and if we use school settings as an example? Is the one you'd likely see reading a book in a corner instead of being a part of conversations with others.

If you're the latter and it affects you in a similar way in regards to streaming? It doesn't make you a bad streamer (I've said this in multiple examples already I know). It also doesn't make you a bad person.

People are simply wired differently and be it in the context of streaming or life period, not everyone is going to be the Fonz, aka someone who just clicks with people.

But at the same time Raven from Teen Titans (not talking about Teen Titans GO!) fits the withdrawn not so social type perfectly, but if you look at lists online of the most popular Teen Titan? She usually ranks 1 or at least top 3.

My point is, some people are good at networking, some aren't. And it's not hopeless if you're the latter.

It's ok to feel nervous, especially if its a much more established channel you want to reach out to.

Even though I myself achieved 1000 followers my first time on Mixer (which I didn't consider a lot) people came in and seemed nervous to ask me questions about streaming, even though it said in my channel description that I enjoyed talking to my viewers on such things.

Some bigger streamers come to mind who tell those who ask them questions about streaming to 'Google it', but as streamers grow, they should help others grow.

And to add on to the above? I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome along with a generalized anxiety disorder in 2018 (with me already having bipolar disorder and clinical depression prior to that).

So while you may not see it from how open and constructively positive (with some caustic honesty at times) I've been during these guides? I admit that this is one of the few entries of my guides where I'm teaching something that I hope others can master because I myself am better at explaining it than doing it.

I'm adept at channel panels and even have gotten much better with dead air, but networking is no doubt my Kryptonite even though I know how to do it. The issue is actually being able to do it.

So in the scopes of a viewer much more than a broadcaster, when I picked up on the nervousness of those who were overwhelmed by me having quad digits in follows? I was seeing myself, so I wanted to assert to them that it was ok and they were in a safe place. That it was ok to ask questions, because while I may have had more follows than them? I still saw them as equal to me. Because in regards to what I said? They were me.

Again, its not just about the streamer, and answering such questions is a form of networking that takes minimal effort to give just a few minutes worth of advice.

Advice given to someone who admires what you do enough to depend on you for help.

It's also a win win in that you gain a new supporter while they gained knowledge from someone they came to for support. Knowledge that they hopefully could pay forward to someone else.

I myself have put not just minutes but who knows how many sleepless nights into each guide before this one and after this one, and I don't regret one second of sleep I've lost.

Point is that if someone like me who's never been a partner on a livestreaming site (most I've been is a Twitch affiliate) can type thousands of words over a a series of almost two dozen streaming guides? There's no reason why more partnered broadcasters can't take just a few minutes to answer a question or two to help out someone who likely already is nervous about streaming, but wants to.

So, how do I myself network? Simple answer to that is that I try my best.

I mostly lurk and leave tabs open for channels I support so I can remain in their chat as a view for their broadcast even if I'm having to do other things or don't feel up for talking, but most of my support for other streamers however is through hosting and tweeting/retweeting posts for when they go live.

With such said, some time ago, a more established channel told me that what I did ''wasn't enough'' to support other channels.

Not gonna lie, that angered me a bit. Because they made such a judgment without either knowing nor caring of my psychological conditions and how hard it is to overcome such things.

Also they said that they didn't come watch my streams because some of my posts on Twitter turned them away from giving me a chance, thus they didn't even see times I helped people on stream firsthand.

Yet some of the streamers he supported were also the type who would act positive in every one of their tweets while preaching the importance of being humble, yet were the same ones I've spoke of who've ignored their viewers, chastised a one person raid, and would tell someone that followed them that it means nothing without some form of monetary extra tacked on for the streamer.

It also struck a nerve because even presently I myself constantly feel like I could do more and had such a mindset well before he told me it was inadequate.

The guides I've made including this one are influenced by that. The fact that I've been my own worst critic many a time in my life, so others telling me I don't do enough? Well they can get in line behind me because I've told myself that many more times.

I've also told myself to shut up just as many times because at least I'm doing more than some who are far more established have done.

Its not about proving someone wrong who told me that its not enough, but me hoping that it IS good enough for those who take it in and see me trying to help others see that they can be good enough.

The point of me being so personal about things just now is to point out what I already said.

Yes, networking is difficult.

But also? That person who took it upon themselves to dub my way of networking as useless? It wasn't their place nor anyone else's (myself included) to decide if it was enough or not. The only one with the right to decide if it was good enough for them was whichever streamer I was trying to assist.

Each time, the streamers in question were thankful for the lurks, the hosts, and the retweets of when they were live.

Were thankful for a small raid even if it was just me and one other person, or that I followed without chastising me for not dropping a dono or a sub along with it.

And they understood that those hosts meant that I was using my own channel to share their broadcast so that if one of my viewers stopped by to see if I was live? They would instead be introduced to someone else that I wanted them to know was worth checking out.

That, and not to sound arrogant, but I didn't see him taking the time to write and record guides to help new streamers out, nor do I see such done by the demographic of (some not all) partners who as stated in my section about not being about the money? Care only about the rewards of partnership and not the responsibility that comes with that sub button.

I put the time in on these guides regardless of who partakes in them or not with 100% responsibility and 0% gain because I want to.

And when I first started them I was fully aware of the fact that for all I knew? I'd be spending hours and hours of time on something no one would even bother taking the time to read.

I like to think that my tutorials on YouTube I did for you guys (before I removed them after Mixer went under and Scorpbot became less used) reached these numbers here because what I've done so far was enough to give someone hope that they could make their dreams happen, namely given the conversations in the comments with people who had trouble setting things up and those who followed my channel because I helped them, even though they by no means had to.

But I keep at this because I want to make sure it is enough.

Case in point, something I learned from experience and self reflection is that as long as what you're doing to support others as you network is appreciated by them and they see it as enough? Don't worry about the words of someone who doesn't know you, has never been by your channel to watch your streams, and honestly? Has no right to say that what you do to help someone isn't enough when in the end? You're at least doing something.

Even if just tweeting someone's stream out? That's still helping them, which is more than nothing at all.

As streamers, responding to and chatting with one's viewers is a major point of streaming and building one's own personal network. I've been critical of channels that ignore their viewers due to not appreciating them as people, but at the same time I do of course understand that some just have such active chats that they physically can't reply to every person, but of course still are grateful.

That said, I hold it as priority #1 to talk to my viewers as much as I can and tend to look at my chat every few seconds even when playing high octane games.

Example? I've been notorious for managing to read my chat and make conversation while dodging enemies in games such as Binding of Isaac, Enter The Gungeon, and most notably? When I played through Cuphead.

One of the most difficult bosses in Cuphead is widely considered to be Grim Matchstick which is the dragon boss, though for me the most difficult boss was the Phantom Express which added another three hours on it alone during a stream before I finally beat it and moved on to King Dice and The Devil on the next stream.

Some of my viewers were surprised that I was managing to keep up with Grim and dodge to a decent margin while glancing at my chat and replying, even if it was at times succinct.

If I die in a game from not paying attention? Well that's fine because I can start over. But you can't respawn a first impression.

Networking with my viewers? I can handle that. From my very first stream in 2016 when a random viewer popped in (which I didn't expect of course so I was definitely nervous) I've always been adept at juggling my gameplay and conversing.

But going around and chatting with our peers is also something that time should be taken to do (again, I know, practice what one preaches).

Thankfully different avenues exist for connecting with fellow streamers away from the site you stream on.

Twitter, and Instagram are probably the top choices for such. Discord I would say is the best because it's dedicated mostly to gaming communities though servers exist for non gaming focal communities/groups.

There are however 100% gaming focal social media sites such as Gamactica, Binx, and a pretty interesting site that I've heard of only very recently called CrouchJump (though it's in closed beta atm)

> Links for Gamactica, Binx, and CrouchJump to get you started btw<

Its just about putting yourself out there guys, though you may feel like a speck of dust in a vast tornado of broadcasters.

I said posting videos of your content to get opinions from others about your streams is good for self reflection, but the same can apply to forms of networking. I share montages of my clips plus my video tutorials on YouTube as well as single clips on Twitter and Instagram at times for that reason.

Taking time to learn the functions behind Discord and creating your own server if you haven't is another way to try and build a community of fellow streamers and viewers.

Now bear in mind, there are ways to network and ways to not network which some people wrongfully dub 'networking'.

Aa general rule of thumb is to simply be yourself with no mention of your stream unless its either in passing or more preferably, the streamer asks you if you stream.

And even after you've grown more close to a streamer? Don't talk about how your stream went until they ask you to unless they've stated prior that they don't mind someone coming in and talking about such things.

Me personally? I don't really mind if someone comes in and talks of hitting their first 100 follows or what they were playing etc as long as they aren't bragging about their goals or saying 'you should all follow me', because while I am all for a streamer talking about good fortune on their stream and maybe my viewers going to check them out?

Well, this is where we finally start talking more about terms you've heard me use such as F4F, self promotion, and false engagement.

F4F stands for Follow 4 Follow. It's common not just in the stream community but also on social media. If someone asks you 'F4F?' they're asking for a follow for you to get a follow for them without any actual engagement with your content or theirs.

This also tends to have the occurrences of a person requesting such and either unfollowing you after you follow them or not following you period.

They will also do this silently by following you without asking F4F yet unfollowing a while later when they see it won't be mutual, or following you and after you follow them? They unfollow you (which doesn't exactly work with me on Instagram because I have an app that allows me to see who unfollows me so I can do the same. I know it sounds bad but I'm not going to be seen only as a number for someone's popularity).

Aside from F4F, there's self promotion, which is when someone jumps into a social media post, Discord server, or a livestream chat, and uses the traffic someone else generates through those sources to draw attention to themselves, usually by telling people to come follow them or dropping links to their own streaming channel, Discord, or social media.. This is of course very obnoxious, disrespectful, and frowned upon like F4F.

There's other things that aren't exactly full on fake engagement, but it's not exactly proper networking either such as asking for shoutouts which I'll discuss further down.

Overall, None of the above is networking with an exception to simply promoting your streams and talking about them which you should do on your own social media and Discord, not on another streamer's pages unless they told you it was ok.

F4F as well as joining a streamer's community just long enough to leech a few followers from them and then bail? Don't do either at all, given it's one of the biggest issues in the stream community as is.

And remember how I spoke of a 'tactic' (< seriously, has self promotion in the manner I'm about to mention ever really been successful?) where a streamer enters a chat and tries to coax one's viewers into ditching that streamer?

Don't be like this guy who stopped by my Twitch channel one night and tried to do just that.

What made this more disgusting is the fact that he had more follows than myself, so by that account? He was trying to take viewers from a channel smaller than him as well as putting my viewers into a boat of those who only care about the game, namely a trending one like Apex Legends.

A bit of hilarity was that at the time I still went by the name ApexRogue and was taking on a boss in a game called The Messenger.

After I beat the boss I told him 'They can stay here and see an Apex win with the added bonus of not being treated as a number'

I went by his channel after and found that the only panel he had on his page was this.

A clickable Paypal logo. No bio, no list of games he played, not even a schedule. Just a Paypal link with not even a simple bit of text saying something along the lines of 'Tips aren't mandatory but are appreciated and will help me buy new equipment and games for my channel'. Instead what text he DID have was telling his viewers to donate to him.

This showed that he only saw streaming for the money, not to connect with people genuinely, and seemed to expect people to just come in and pay him.

In a logically speaking standpoint, if he was pulling the 'come follow me' card then he was also more than likely taking the other routes such as F4F via taking advantage of other streamers who likely practiced the act (word act used very appropriately) of F4F as well.

This is evident by his stream title here.

So the issue with posting F4F and L4F (stands for Lurk 4 Lurk) may seem obvious on the surface. Doing this of course lures in other channels to do such.

But what makes it worse is that it not only puts a message out there that makes newer streamers think F4F/L4L is ok, which damages growth and teaches them to focus on the wrong type of growth, but it also promotes F4F to where those channels will spam other streamers chat's who don't tolerate it. It more or less is the same as spreading a virus and just as people quarantine a virus to keep it from getting out of hand, a streamer's mods will drop a ban hammer to keep someone from bringing that BS to a streamer's chat.

Note: I hid his name because even with what this person did, I'm not going to out him publicly. Everything I've posted is solely to show examples of things I've already said not to do, such as the PayPal panel being another lazy (and also arrogant) way to go about channel panels.

Fact is, no sane streamer/viewer who knows the craft would follow someone with just a link for their Paypal and other red flags of their toxicity in how they present themselves. Telling another's streamers viewers to just walk out on that streamer when all they themselves have on their page is that donation link translates to ''all I want is your money''.

Safely said, he got a banhammer dropped on him that would make Thor blush because showing disrespect to my channel and me by doing such a thing wasn't what ticked me off. It was disrespect to those in my chat list.

My stance is that whatever viewers are in my channel? They are my responsibility.

I admit, I tend to be a bit protective of them, so I wasn't too pleased over someone seeing my viewers as just a possible means to an end for himself. Numbers for his own growth and monetary gain instead of human beings.

And I can assure you that he most likely went into someone else's channel right after and copy/pasted that same message or some sort of F4F spam.

Which honestly dumbfounds me that this is still a thing given that after all this time it should be common knowledge that F4F and self promoting is a practice that's heavily frowned upon.

Another thing about me guys is that being polite goes a long way. I respect being asked something compared to being told what to do. This brings me to asking for shoutouts.

In the past I've had viewers come in and ask if I minded giving them a shoutout and in response I tended to give them one because they weren't just posting a link to their channel without permission like some do.

They were at least being considerate enough to ask if I could, which I respected and appreciated.

So I'd give them that one, but I'd also explain that they were going about growth the wrong way.

Some learned from it and never asked for one again, though I'd still do it for them to help them out after I saw that they were coming around, being active in my chat, and just spending decent stretches of time in my channel.

However I eventually stopped giving shoutouts on request due to it usually ending with someone continuing to ask each time they came in then leaving after. On these occasions it's pretty easy to see that they know they shouldn't be doing it.

However while all degrees of self promoting aren't proper networking, and asking for a shoutout is in a way still a self promo because you're asking someone to post a link to your channel? There's still forms worse than that.

Asking for a shoutout? Be it if I obliged or not, I at least tried to educate them on the error of what they were doing, because I kept in mind that there was still that chance that they were a fresh face who honestly thought that's how streamers grew and just needed some guidance. That they simply didn't know any better.

But those who come in and post a link to their channel or Discord server or outright demand people to come follow them? Its easy to see that they know what they are doing without a care for the streamer or their viewers, especially if they come back and do it again after you said no.

Socialize and put yourself out there, but don't make yourself look desperate let alone self centered while doing so, otherwise the only support you will get that way is more than likely an extra nudge from that streamer's foot as they kick you out the door, possibly with a ban from their channel.

The point of the things I've said here as well as my stream etiquette series later, is to hopefully keep you from such an experience. Its an option for others to support you and not an obligation, so you want to make them feel like its an option that benefits their time.

While you are there to network and grow your own channel as well? Its still that streamer's channel that you are on and his/her viewers as well as his/her rules. Don't try and twist people's arms and make it out as if they have to follow you. If they see that you stream and want to get behind that? They will on their own time because they choose to.

The net that a streamer works should be like one at a circus. Everyone puts on their show for a crowd and gains fans, but in the end? Everyone benefits from the net of support they give each other while the viewers of each streamer are a collective audience that also benefits from the show.

This is compared to a spider's web, where those who get caught in it are seen as prey as the spider feeds off of them, with only itself benefiting from what it catches.

You don't want it to put the message across that you only want to take advantage of them and their following to further your own goals solely.

Stop by more than once even if you can't stop by often, and if you can't stop by their channel at all for a stay? As I stated that I do, at least share their stream on social media. Give support to gain support and even so, support a streamer because you want to and not to be owed.

And from experience as I stated? If a streamer says that what you do is enough for them and they appreciate it?

Then don't worry about someone else saying what you're doing is trivial.

Because again its not for them to decide what is or isn't enough for another channel.