Never stop Twitching.
Amazon’s livestreaming video service is getting Pulse, an integrated social media feed that expands how creators can communicate with viewers. Pulse works like a version of Twitter or Facebook where broadcasters can posts videos, images, text, and more that anyone following them will see. This feature is coming to everyone on Twitch by mid-March, and the company is positioning it as a way for you to continue connecting with people who enjoy your channel even when you’re not livestreaming.
“Now we’re launching a way to make it easier for streamers and viewers to engage with each other on Twitch, whether a stream is live or not,” Twitch communications pro Sheila Raju wrote in a blog post. “[Pulse is] a place where streamers can post and engage with all of their followers and the greater Twitch community right from the Twitch front page. It’s an always-on way to share clips, stream highlights, schedules, photos, and more so followers are more informed, engaged, and connected.”
For viewers, Pulse will provide a stream of content of all sorts from all of the channels you follow. It’s a way to stay tapped into the service in a way that wasn’t possible before without supplementing with outside services like Twitter or Facebook. And you should expect to see a variety of posts because Twitch is empowering every broadcaster to decide what kind of content they think they should share — although it does recommend sharing your on-demand videos, changes to your livestreaming schedule, and “contests, polls, memes, GIFS, and more” ways of keeping your following engaged.
And really, that’s the big story here: Twitch introduces a new venue for you to share GIFs.