a few days ago, i started streaming on twitch and began a speedrun towards twitch affiliate. my first stream peaked at two viewers: myself and a bot trying to sell me followers.

today, i streamed geoguessr for about an hour and a half. i had 5 actual people watching my stream. three of them were engaging with me in the chat! one of them left, but the other two stayed around and even gave me follows!

what made today's stream interesting was how much the viewers participated. i was trying to figure out where i was on google street view, and people in the chat were helping me identify locations.

someone would point out a road sign. another person would suggest looking at the compass or the angle of the road. at one point, we were looking for a hotel in latvia using tram lines and bus stop signs.

it felt like we were solving the same puzzle together.

i think i might have stumbled upon a good streaming format.

when you're a small streamer, people have very little reason to watch you. you're competing with thousands of other streams, including people who already have established audiences.

but geoguessr gives viewers something to do. they can make guesses, correct me when i'm wrong, and help me find the answer. even someone who joins halfway through can immediately understand what's happening and start participating.

i checked my twitch analytics afterward. i streamed for about an hour, gained two followers, and had an average of two viewers.

these are tiny numbers, but they're still progress!

to become a twitch affiliate, i need 25 followers and an average of three concurrent viewers, along with the other requirements. after today's stream, those goals feel a little more achievable.

i'm also starting to enjoy the process of figuring this out. every stream is an experiment. you try something, see how people respond, and make a few changes the next day.

i'm only a few days into this, and i already have a better idea of what i should be streaming next.

i think that's a good enough reason to keep going.