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The Pitfalls of Follower Notifications

3/26/2015

19 Comments

 
If you use Twitch a lot, you have probably  seen a follower notification of some sort. A follower notification happens when someone chooses to follow a stream and a pop up appears somewhere on the stream notifying the entire stream that a particular person has followed. Users download a third party program that gets captured by the stream software and is triggered by Twitch follow API. These notifications are usually very loud, take up a ton of the game screen,  and get very repetitive after you've seen it 500 times. If you haven’t seen one, here’s a great (terrible) example of one.

Follower/sub/donation/hosting notifications have been around for quite some time, but just recently started becoming a huge Twitch fad. Hundreds, even thousands of streamers have convinced themselves that these notifications are the key to growing their stream, when in reality it’s more likely hurting your stream than helping it. Today, I want to show you that if you’re using follower notifications, you should stop as soon as possible. (In a later blog we'll discuss the other notifications in greater detail as they are a whole different beast.)

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An Illustration

Let’s start out with an illustration. You’re watching your favorite TV show on CAKETV. It’s a comedy starring Rob Schneider. The show is hilarious and you’re just about to get the a really hilarious part in the TV show, when all of a sudden out of nowhere a really obnoxious banner comes over the show with a really funny sound bite. You laugh really hard at it and figure it’s a one-time deal and shrug it off and keep watching your show. Moments later, the same notification pops up during the show. You start to get a little confused, and as you’re getting confused as to why it just happened again, the same notification pops a third time.

At this point, you’re really starting to get annoyed. Hey man, you just want to watch your boy Rob Schneider say funny things without being interrupted. So you start looking for other TV channels to watch and find out on the PIETV channel, there's another really funny TV show with no annoying banners that pop up. So you decide to watch TV there and you completely forget about the last channel.

Take that example I just gave you and think about why someone would not want to watch your stream if you constantly had annoying banners popping up announcing every time someone followed. People already use ad block so that loud and annoying ads don't play, and follower notifications can definitely be seen as a loud and annoying ad.  Now take into fact that Twitch literally has thousands of streamers vying for the attention of viewers. There’s a decent chance that someone is playing the exact game you on Twitch. 

Let's say I’m looking to watch a comfy Final Fantasy 7 stream, and I see two people streaming. Both of them are pretty good streamers, but one of them has to take 10 seconds every few minutes to interrupt game play to thank “BigBootyButtCheeks” for following them. I'm now forced to choose between the two and what channel do you think I'm going to choose? This example probably happens hundreds of times on Twitch daily and streamers have no idea that these follower notifications are affecting their stream in this fashion.

The 1% Rule

I’d like to introduce streamers to a rule or theory that you should have memorized and a full understanding of going forward. This rule can be applied to many facets of Twitch, and having a better understanding of it will ultimately help your stream grow.

The 1% rule (taken from Wikipedia) says that “in an internet community, only 1% of the users of a website actively create new content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk.”

What does that mean? It means that of the X amount of viewers that are actually watching your stream, a very small portion of them are actually going to talk and interact with your stream. That is a lot of people who are lurking that just want to watch someone play a video game or have a stream up for background noise. Why is this important in regards to follower notifications? Simple, the vast majority of people don’t want to be pointed out on your stream when they follow you; they just want to watch in peace and quiet. I've heard many people personally tell me that they will actually wait to follow streams after they are offline because they don't want that kind of attention on them. 

Don’t believe me? I recently did a poll asking on both Twitter and Twitch on how a follower notification affected their streaming experience. The answer makes it very clear, they aren’t worth it.

Of the 340 viewers that were polled, over half said that a follower notification takes away from the stream. While only 10% said it improved their experience. OVER HALF, that’s a huge number. Are you okay with alienating half of your viewer audience because you think a follower notification is necessary to grow your stream? 

Also, when you are using these follower notifications, it makes it really easy for people to come into your stream and follow you with inappropriate names that will further cause problems for your stream. You're just inviting those people to bother and distract your stream by having follower notifications.

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An Alternative to Follower Notifications

One of the biggest arguments for follower notifications is that it gives an opportunity to interact with viewers for streamers who have barely any viewers. I understand that when you have little to no streamer interaction, anything that can spark interaction is a good thing. But, there’s a better way without making viewers feel singled out and put in an awkward position.

When I first started streaming, I simply opened up my email to see when I’d get a new follower. Instead of saying “Hey random viewer thanks for following,” I would notice that a person or two would follow, and I would start talking about a subject I felt like opened the door for discussion. This can be anything from talking about the game you’re playing, to talking about your favorite ice cream. If you see people are taking the initiative to follow, it’s up to you to take the initiative to create the conversation.

My biggest gripe I have with follower notifications is how many people use it as a crutch and say it’s the only way they can get conversation going. The reality is, if the only thing that distinguishes your stream from the thousands of streams on Twitch is that your follower notification is gimmicky and has a hilarious sound clip, are you really building your stream for sustainable growth? The type of people that get a kick out of that will come and go, and the people that actually come for your content will get annoyed by the constant interruption of your stream and eventually move on. Don’t follow the crowd and do what everyone else does, challenge yourself to think of ways to create those interactions and don’t rely on a unreliable gimmick that only pushes viewers away, not keep them.

(If you still believe that a follower notification is completely okay for your stream, then at least do me a favor. Put it somewhere that doesn't cover up the game feed and doesn't include a really obnoxious sound. I've seen a a few streamers that use follower notifications in a way that it's not distracting, but very few are able to pull it off!)

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19 Comments
AwsmPants
3/26/2015 05:52:46 am

As a constant lurker in quite a few streams, on of my biggest gripes are streamers who take too much time to thank every single person who follows the channel. If I have to hear that, or see some sort of "new follower" banner, I'll instantly look for others to watch. As a viewer, you want to warch gameplay and (for the most part) have some sort of interaction with the streamer. Follow banners can ruin both of those things. Thanks for making a post about this. Definitely something for everyone to think about.

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johnwaynegacy
3/26/2015 05:59:34 am

A lot of this seems like your opinion versus actual facts, especially when you use an analogy instead of real evidence.

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Iateyourp1e link
3/26/2015 06:11:09 am

Of Course a lot of it is going to be opinion. But I've interacted with a lot of streamers/viewers/ others out there, and the response I get from a lot of these people is that they are super annoying to a lot of them.

You're free to do as you please, but I'm going to go out on a hunch and believe that a lot of viewers feel the same way. The poll isn't perfect, but the fact that over 50% say they don't like these things speaks volumes.

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Enkaybee
3/26/2015 06:35:31 am

I use a bot to silently add new followers to my on-stream text scroller. The ones who want gratification get it and the ones who don't won't even notice. Everybody wins.

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AisforAndis link
3/26/2015 06:37:31 am

To add onto the statement about checking your email to find out if you have received new followers, you can instead connect your stream to Twitch Alerts (TwitchAlerts.com) and get these notifications sent to just yourself without having an on stream follower alert. This will come in a nice, user friendly UI that will also track your follows over time and give you some nice statistics. Additionally, this will save you a butload of spam emails if you get raided by a big streamer like Iateyourbirthdaycake.

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S986S
3/26/2015 08:03:43 am

Theres something to be said about rewarding good/exciting behaviour. The Follower Notifications initially stem from the desire to reqard individuals for doing something they wanted and have others enjoy doing the same. LethalFrag's "Welcome to the dapper" where the user is rewarded by a persona and direct message from him. Another example is IAteYourPie's Blantent Advertising of goods he is not even sponsered by. These things add to the individuals enjoyment as they get to see even more of the individuals personality.

Follower Notifications are a similar concept and though it may look bad, theres something to be said about practice early. And figure out your stream early.

What I would be interested in is to test 20 streams between 100 to 200 people and see if they have follower notifications or not. And if so, are they in the forefront or off to the side. And if those people do anything personal for the follower

I respect the 1% rule because I often cringe at the thought that I would get attention. Usually when I follow someone I don't wan't to be seen unless I chat with them. The moment I get attention, I get scared they are going to ask a question or WANT attention from me. I follow so that I can easily access the channel without needing to worry about finding them.

However, I do think that tastefully rewarding viewers is important. They come to enjoy themselves and if they enjoy your personal attention they may come back for more,

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Etanks
3/26/2015 02:09:23 pm

I totally agree, a follower banner with my name on it makes me feel super awkward. When I follow a chill low viewer stream and then get greeted with an obnoxious notification on the stream, most of the time I unfollow right there.

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IrascibleWizard
3/28/2015 12:23:59 am

I completely agree that follower notifications can get pretty annoying because they happen all the time. But I would like to know if everyone has the same opinion for subscriber and donation notifications.

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Haarberger
3/28/2015 06:46:03 am

Felt the need to comment after the "Wait until streamer is offline" sentence.
When I was being all new to Twitch I followed my very first channel, name pops up and he rambled my name. I didn't know of the thing at all when doing that.
A year later I am following around 150-200 channels with everyone except that one done during offline time. This needs to stop, big up for the post!

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bx
3/31/2015 01:06:26 am

For IrascibleWizard: I think automated sub and donation notifications are also pretty annoying.

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Ben Nagy link
4/20/2015 10:38:33 am

Hey, Pie! What do you think of having a splash screen with your most recent followers displayed when you take a quick break (ad time)? Or when offline? That seems like a way to give recognition without interrupting your content, but is definitely uneven, as some people will get more recognition than others. Solution or grounds for viewer frustration?

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kirbs
4/20/2015 08:49:30 pm

Hey Pie! I know you don't use follower notification, but isn't it a bit rich to talk like this when you've used very similar sound/displays for subs/donations in the past? I recall the soundbite from an anime especially you used during the zelda marathon ("what am I fighting foooor!"), that was obnoxious enough to made me mute the stream a few times. So I do agree that follower notifications can be annoying but it´s mostly the soundbites that can ruin a stream experience for me.

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BTripp
5/11/2015 04:23:50 pm

I feel like pie actually learned a lot of this from his own experiences. You gotta learn somehow.

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xxxAceBlade link
5/4/2015 12:09:14 pm

Finally someone putting this atrocity into an intelligent sounding argument. Thank you good sir, I'll be linking this from now on.

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BTripp
5/11/2015 04:21:30 pm

The worst experience I've had as a viewer on twitch is following a stream that seemed chill, maybe 20 viewers. The guy was so thirsty for attention he thanked me for following and a couple minutes later actually called me out by name (and my twitch name is my real name so it made it even weirder) and told me "you need to interact in chat bro why are you even here if you aren't". I unfollowed, explained that not everyone watches streams with the intention of interacting and closed the stream immediately.

If someone is just chilling and lurking it's because that's what they want to be doing. Maybe they use the stream as background noise while they game or something. Never try to force people to interact in the stream, if you provide them with the right motivation and your stream has the right atmosphere for them they will do it of their own accord.

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Karl
9/10/2015 07:11:10 pm

One of the streamers I follow is TwoAngryGamers, they have a follower notification that is a small drop-down tab that says the follower's name and they just say "(Name) thanks for following" and that's the end of it. I don't feel like it takes away from the stream because it is a 1 second thing and its over.

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Amy
1/21/2016 11:41:20 pm

Personally? I don't mind them, providing that the streamer doesn't do some silly 'skit' every single time (e.g. RetroGaijin, BurkeBlack and the like take about 20 seconds at least every single time they get a sub or donation, it's very annoying).

A quick notification and 'hey thanks' from the streamer is fine by me. I see it as something smaller channels should have, but once the followers start coming in more than once ever 30 minutes, then they should be silenced, or made more minimal.

What I do is just have a silent 'XXXX is now following' in the top left corner. It's small, simple and quiet and I don't have to interrupt my game.

Also, I'm no lurker (I love to interact, it's why I am on Twitch and not YouTube), so perhaps I just simply don't understand the mindset. But I see a lot of... well... 'salt' about people mentioning your usernames online.

The way I see it most streamers are legit grateful that you've followed and want to say thank you, especially those who don't get loads of followers, so the notification is exciting for them. There's a lot of angry butthurt regarding that. Like 'how DARE they acknowledge me and speak my username'.

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kiya lee
4/12/2016 12:56:39 pm

The only time I hear gripes from twitch users isn't regarding follower notification. Personally, I prefer not to have the gamer go out of his way to announce I'm following, so I typically just follow people's streams I enjoyed after the broadcast. The complaining comes from twitch users who like to lurk in a channel before they subscribe, see if they want to come back, but the streamer/bot likes to greet everyone who visits the channel. Being greeted when I first start watching a stream is a surefire way to ensure I leave immediately and never return.

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Kanis999 link
5/26/2016 08:02:06 am

My thoughts:

The first day I used a follower notification, I got a 400% increase in follows that stream (13 in one stream vs the usual 2-3). There's something to be said for the psychology of "oh everyone else is doing this, I should do it too". Lots of times people simply forget to follow, even though they enjoyed the stream. I think this subtle reminder has a motivational impact on many users.

The key I think is to make it minimal. Absolutely no sounds, and the notification should not interrupt gameplay. I won't call people out by mentioning them out loud. Its just a subtle subconscious reminder of "others are liking this channel, so should you".

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