46 THE LIVE LIFE IRL Streaming
NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU… STILL SEE ME
Buzzfeed editor Aria Inthavong streamed every moment of his life for one week straight. This intimate encounter with digital tech made for a much more emotional experience than he had bargained for
Words by Laura Jeacocke
oday, thanks to the maturity of technology and people willing to break boundaries, highly personal live streaming has become
lives with their communities, not just gaming content, so Twitch decided to expand its live streaming platform, taking it a step further and creating a whole IRL category. ‘In Real Life’ allows Twitch users to step outside their studios/homes and show their everyday living. These could be adventures, travel, sports, or much simpler things like cookery and art classes. Twitch viewers can drill down to find and watch content that is especially relevant to them, covering a range of categories. CEO of Twitch, Emmett Shear, has underlined the importance of connection in the medium, saying, “IRL is designed to help our creators foster that kind of community interaction.”
commonplace – extended, full scale ‘In Real Life’ (IRL) streaming is becoming an increasingly popular live streaming sub- genre. Popularised on Twitch, IRL allows creatives to stream their entire lives in real time, as it happens and to whoever wants to watch. Twitch is mostly recognised as being one of the first major online gaming platforms. Users can watch individual gamers play, observe esports tournaments, take part in live chats during games, even broadcast their own gaming content. But users kept giving feedback to Twitch explaining that they also wanted to share their everyday
POWERING HUMAN CONNECTION In September, Aria Inthavong, a junior
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