As someone who’s spent a lot of time on Twitch in the last decade, both as a viewer and as a former streamer, I found this book to be really fascinating. Grayson dives into the stories, both on- and off-stream, of a number of very well-known streamers, and uses them to expertly craft the story of Twitch as a whole, from its start as Justin.tv, to the juggernaut that it has become.

An honest and thorough look at the world of Twitch streamers and the growth of the platform. I enjoyed Grayson's writing throughout this and the story he told from the beginning of Twitch to what it has come to be - the role that the community and the viewer plays in this is something that I saw as an interesting throughline. Although he followed the stories of a number of streamers it was those that watched them that I felt to be one of the key factors of how they each were portrayed. I personally do watch streamers - though I have moved from Twitch to more Youtube streams in a preference of who I watch and the ease of having Youtube on a tv. I was vaguely familiar with some of the streamers covered but I had never sat in any of their streams or watched them before. Having been on the internet since 2020 it would be hard to not know what the DreamSMP was and I really enjoyed the look at parasocial relationships especially within that chapter.

I do think it would have been interesting to have included a streamer without millions of followers or maybe one that was not the biggest names. It would have helped I think contrast some of the very basic ideas of what streaming is and one of the key topics mentioned is that not everyone can be Dream or Amouranth or Hasan but they still do it and people still watch.

4/5

My Twitch Experience
I first learnt about Twitch in early 2021. A Youtube viewer since 2007, I had heard about the Dream SMP through some YouTubers. I had no idea what “Dream SMP” meant, or what Twitch was. Turns out the Dream SMP was a multiplayer Minecraft server created by a streamer called Dream, that dozens of creators livestreamed on while roleplaying the perspective of their characters. That was my first foray into Twitch. I’ve been fascinated ever since, and am now a regular viewer (not of anyone who was on DreamSMP prior to 2021, I will note for anyone reading this who knows about it lol).

Streamer & Chat
What initially intrigued me most about Twitch was the dynamic interactivity between streamer and chat (ie viewers), as well as the different ways in which a streamer presents themself online. I imagined it would be much easier to curate your self-representation in edited YouTube videos rather than on a livestream, where you may be responding on the fly to comments from chat. Interaction (or lack thereof) between streamers, their moderators, and chat shapes the viewing and streaming experience. Chat can be considered through many facets: chat as monolith, chat as individuals, chat as comedic partner, chat as collaborator, chat as informer, chat as harasser or nuisance. Back in 2021 I thought, “Someone should really write a book about this.” The Internet is still relatively young with much to come, but Twitch felt like the first truly new enviornment I’d encountered online in some time.

Exploring Community
Nathan Grayson fulfilled my dream by writing Stream Big. He’s not exactly written a dissertation on communication, identity formation, and the language a streamer uses with their chat (the direction I dreamed of going in 😝), but he has done a solid job at exploring and explaining the unique aspects of the Twitch experience by profiling nine streamers and their relationships with their communities, particularly at pivotal moments in their careers. He understands that the story of Twitch is the story of community. It’s not just about watching someone play a video game. So that gets kudos from me.

That is what sets Stream Big apart from some other books about Internet platforms: the focus on creators themselves. They are what make the platform worth reading about. I don’t care much about the historical development of Twitch, except for the moments where it really impacts the creators. (This was my main critique of the YouTube ‘biography’ Like, Comment, Subscribe. Too much focus on corporate, not enough focus on creators. Admittedly, Twitch does not hold the same power or status that YouTube does. Twitch is not mainstream in the same way YouTube is. So it doesn’t have quite the same corporate baggage to tempt focus instead of creators. Anyway. Where was I?) Grayson explores major changes or trends at Twitch through profiles of various streamers majorly affected by them.

The Creators
I was familiar with five of the streamers he focuses on – Kaitlyn Siragusa AKA Amouranth, Clara Sorrenti AKA Keffels, Hasan Piker AKA HasanAbi, Youna Kang AKA Code Miko, and Dream & co of the DreamSMP. (Again, if you know anything about the DreamSMP… interesting reading to see it as presented to outsiders lol. Great consideration of young creators, though.) Other profiles focus on Marcus Graham AKA djWheat, Emme Montgomery AKA Negaoryx, Tana DePass AKA Cypheroftyr, and Ben Cassell AKA CohhCarnage. For the streamers with whom I’m already familiar, I enjoyed learning more about their backgrounds and hearing about their experiences in their own words. For the new-to-me streamers, I enjoyed looking into sides of Twitch that I knew little about.

Will Twitch Ever Improve?
An overarching argument Grayson makes is that Twitch, especially presently, undervalues its creators. There’s no doubt about that, which makes it especially interesting to see several prominent streamrs recently move back to Twitch from YouTube. Twitch remains the dominant platform for livestreaming, despite its shortcomings. Time will tell if Twitch will ever get back to improving the streamer and viewer experience. Considering ✨ capitalism ✨ and Twitch’s Amazon ownership, though, it seems the people who bring Twitch to life will always be left at least somewhat unsatisfied with the platform.

If You Didn’t Know Anything About Twitch Before Reading This Post…
Lastly I want to speak to you, reader who may have never heard of Twitch before! I suspect most people who read my blog don’t interact with Twitch. Should you pick up Stream Big? While I definitely appreciated reading about people whose streams I had seen or Twitch culture pivotal moments that I had seen play out live (so to speak!), Grayson does provide sufficient context for non-viewers to learn plenty from. So if you’re interested in online social interaction or you’ve ever asked “Why watch livestreaming?”, pick up this book.

The Bottom Line 💭
I kind of pre-empted myself with the last line of the previous paragraph, but here we are. If you watch Twitch or wonder what the fuss is about, check out Stream Big.

Stream Big by Nathan Grayson is a well researched and very interesting look at Twitch and the people who have made it a staple for watching, streaming and gaming. From the beginning of the streaming giant to the modern day, Grayson interviews streamers, higherups at Twitch and insiders of the tech industry to give a nuanced and in depth look at the site that revolutionized streaming!!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book is a detailed summary of the history of Twitch - similar to other books that have chronicled Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The author goes through the early days of Twitch with high hopes up to the current times after their purchase by Amazon. Each of the nine chapters focuses on a different Twitch creator and tells a small piece of Twitch history along the way.

I found the book to be a good read - describing both the good and the bad of Twitch through its history and I recommend it to anyone who likes reading about the history of recent technology companies.