In community building, a “third place” is a social environment that someone can go to that isn’t home (first place) or work (second place). It’s a place where someone can go to relax, socialize and feel comfortable. Third places can be anything from a community center or library to a coffee shop or bar. It can also be your Twitch channel (this guide is written for Twitch, these guidelines are true for any live streaming community on Mixer, Facebook Gaming and YouTube live).

With most of the world’s population stuck in their homes due to COVID-19, more people are tuning into Twitch and other livestreaming platforms not just for entertainment, but for community and basic human interaction. As a streamer, you can actually help people have a bit of sanity in these difficult times. I wrote this all before COVID-19 started, but this message seems more important now than ever. I hope you will use these tips to turn your community into a third place that is as purposeful to your viewers as their homes and work places.

Once you understand and think of your stream as a third place, you’ll understand what kind of viewers you’ll attract and why they’ll come back. Before we get there, let’s talk about coffee shops.

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Your Stream Is Like a Coffee Shop

In your city, you probably have dozens of options for getting a cup of coffee, yet you may not have visited or tried most of what these coffee shops have to offer. Why? It’s probably because you are comfortable with where you are currently going. There could be a variety of reasons: the cashier knows your face, the coffee is cheap, the parking lot is easy to get into and out of. These are all possible reasons that keep you going back to the same place and not trying new locations.

Let’s say you took a risk and tried a new coffee shop. You discover the coffee is amazing, yet every time you go back, you see the same old guy sitting near the door of the coffee shop always trying to argue with you when you walk in and out. Even though the coffee is amazing, you’d probably stop going to that coffee shop because that old guy just ruins your day. Now, replace the words “coffee shop” with “Twitch stream”.

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The point is, sometimes the coffee taste doesn’t matter as much as the coffee shop. You only have so much free time outside of your home life and your work life, and you want to spend that time in a place where you feel welcomed and you can be yourself. If that coffee shop knew the old guy was annoying customers and hurting their foot traffic, they’d probably ask him not to come back. Even worse, if the coffee shop knew that the old guy was causing them to lose potential customers and didn’t do anything about that, the coffee shop is to blame for stunting their own growth.

Setting Expectations

As a streamer, you set the mood and the ground rules of your stream. Your stream should be a place people can come and go with no obligations, but when they are there, it has a homey feel.

The term third place was coined by Ray Oldenburg. Oldenburg states one of the characteristics of a third place is:

The tone of conversation in third places is never marked with tension or hostility. Instead, third places have a playful nature, where witty conversation and frivolous banter are not only common, but highly valued.

You can start building a third place for your streams by focusing on your chat. Don’t expect to remember every single detail about your audience in a single stream, but the energy you put in will impact your audience directly. I’m also a viewer on Twitch, and personally, I am more likely to head back to a stream if the streamer remembers something as simple as my name.

Teaching Twitch Chat Pro Level Animal Crossing Strategies

You can expand and continue growing your third place by the moderators you bring on. Moderators, like other viewers in chat, can be vital in making new people feel welcomed and appreciated. On the other hand, both moderators and viewers, can push others away from you and your stream if they come across snobby or rude. It’s important to stress that third places should never feel cliquey or pretentious. If your moderators need some direction, here is a great article on moderation.

I quickly want to bring up that using channel points or a StreamElements loyalty program can both help build an audience and push away an audience. Just like how your moderators can be vital in making new people feel more welcomed, so can using some stream currency. If you want some direction in that area, this is a great article about how to really benefit from using a loyalty program.

Guidelines for Building a Third Place

Besides your general stream rules, there should be no requirements that would prevent acceptance of a viewer — no need to make viewers jump though hoops to feel welcomed

Viewers should not feel tied down, they should be able to come and go as they please — don’t have your viewers stressed if they want to watch someone else or if they are too busy to watch every stream

Conversation should be a main focus, but viewers should not feel required to participate (lurkers enjoy good conversation without feeling like they need to jump in)

Make sure people who are in your stream can feel like they are at home — safe, comfortable, and where they can fully be themselves

Understand that some people just want a hello, some want a full conversation, and some want to hang out unnoticed — all acceptable

Ask yourself if your current community, even if it’s just you and five other people in chat, is accomplishing that. The more accommodating you and your community are to other viewers, the more likely you are to see growth. Oldenburg’s book, The Great Good Place, states the importance of regulars:

Third places harbor a number of regulars that help give the space its tone, and help set the mood and characteristics of the area. Regulars to third places also attract newcomers, and are there to help someone new to the space feel welcome and accommodated.

Keep in mind, third places don’t get built over night. Just like when you walk into a coffee shop, it might take them several visits to learn your name and remember your order. Likewise, it will take several visits for you to recognize the other regulars who walk in. Think about the environment you can create, the people it will bring in, the conversations that can be had, and give them a reason to return the next day.