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Here's How To Use Twitch, The Video-Streaming Site That Amazon Bought For Close To $1 Billion

Karyne Levy   

Here's How To Use Twitch, The Video-Streaming Site That Amazon Bought For Close To $1 Billion
Tech3 min read

Amazon on Monday announced that it was buying Twitch, a site devoted to video-game-related live-streaming content, for $970 million.

Twitch launched in 2011, and has since grown to a behemoth of a site, with millions of people uploading and watching videos all the time. Not to mention some other crazy things, such as a crowdsourced game of "Pokemon," or even a fish playing the same game.

Channels on the site range from live streams of e-sports competitions, to video game companies showing off their new games, to competitive players streaming their practice sessions.

Sound like fun? Here's how to get started.

Sign Up For An Account

Before you do anything, you need to sign up for an account. That's easy to do, by clicking the "sign up" button at the top right.

Twitch signup button

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After you click that, you'll be taken to the sign up page. You can easily connect your account with Facebook, if you don't mind Twitch posting things on your behalf.

Twitch signup screen

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Creating Your Profile Page

Customization is the key to a killer profile page. Click on your username on the upper-right and click on Profile.

Twitch Profile dropdown

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That will take you to your profile page, where you can do things like upload a picture, write a bio, and see all the videos you've uploaded.

Twitch Profile page

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You can also check out highlights, which are snippets from full-length broadcasts; full broadcasts; bookmarks; and see who you're following and who your followers are.

Your Channel Page

Your channel page is where the action happens. You access it from the same dropdown menu as you did your Profile page.

Twitch Channel page dropdown

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You can edit things on this page, as well, such as the title of your broadcast. You can also add more content to the page, such as graphics or text.

Twitch Channel Page

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Finding Channels To Follow

So now you've got your profile set up, your channel made ... what happens next? Now is the fun part. First, find some channels to follow. You can browse by top channels, by games you like, by consoles, channels that are live at the moment, etc.

Twitch Channel Browse

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Channels are exciting! When a live stream is happening, there's a ton going on: the stream of the video game itself, the channel owner commenting on the game, and a chat-room-like stream of people talking on the right.

Live Stream On Twitch

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If you like the channel you're watching, you can subscribe to it for a small fee. You get some benefits for subscribing; what you get depends on the channel you're subscribing to.

But Watching Is Only Half The Fun

You have a channel, a profile, and you've followed some other channels. Now it's time to upload your own videos.

There are several ways to do this. If you're using a PC, you'll need a pretty powerful machine plus a broadcast tool. Twitch offers links to the most common broadcasting tools.

If you're using the Xbox One, streaming is as easy as saying "Xbox, Broadcast." You can also launch a streaming session from the Twitch app.

Broadcasting from the PlayStation 4 is just as easy. You press the Share button and select "Broadcast Gameplay."

You'll also have to go to your page's dashboard to enable it for broadcasting.

Twitch Dashboard

Screenshot

Twitch Mobile Apps

Twitch also offers free universal apps for both iOS and Android.

You can't stream games from your mobile device, but you can watch others playing, as well as chat with others.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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