Twitch Inches Closer To Social Network Status With New Friends Feature
Besides expanding its business by entering into various partnerships, Twitch, the famous streaming service, is again aiming for organic growth.
On Friday at Pax East, the company, which is owned by Amazon.com, has announced a new social feature called Friends that permits Twitch users to add up to 500 people as friends, allowing them to see who is online to chat.
Popular platform unveils a series of new features
The new feature is the third social feature being released this year by the company. Other two were Whisper, which enables private instant messaging on the Twitch’s platform, and Channel Feed, the status updates feature.
With this, the company is expanding its business organically, meaning adding more products to its assortment instead of partnering up with other companies to expand its business. Keeping in mind how big the platform is on community interaction, it fits perfectly into the picture.
Twitch’s Director of Programming Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham said in a press statement:
“Twitch has always been a great platform for broadcasters to connect with viewers, now viewers will be able to connect with each other too.
Because the community continues to flock to features that help create real connections, as exemplified by the 300 million whispers sent just since launch, we are continuing to make this a key focus.”
Beta launching soon
For now, there is no fixed date for when the beta is supposed to be rolled out, but invites have already begun with “selected community members” on Friday, which included attendees of the Twitch Town Hall at the Pax East event. Additionally, beta sign-ups also began at the Twitch booth at Pax on Saturday.
There is also a chance to get into the beta for those who weren’t at Pax. The launch includes a beta giveaway for everyone who’s added as a friend, allowing them to invite someone else. It can be thought of as a sort of social virus that spreads through the Twitch community.
The first round of invites hasn’t gone live yet, so those who are ready to get in on the action will have to be a bit patient for now.
Since: September 12, 2015
