Twitch released a small but powerful product update on Thursday, introducing a new tool that allows streamers to create and share short, vertical video clips in seconds.
The new clip editor can be accessed from the clips manager in the creator dashboard. Clicking “edit and share clip” opens the slick editing tool, which keeps things simple. You can select a split view that captures two rectangular parts of a clip at once (usually the game stream and the camera) or keep it streamlined with a full vertical clip from the clip. The only other option is a switch to include your channel name, which fits into the top portion of the clip.
Within the clip editor, Twitch offers direct social sharing integration with YouTube Shorts. Direct sharing to TikTok or Instagram Reels isn’t currently supported – and it’s easy enough to do manually – but Twitch plans to add more integrations in the future.
We are committed to helping streamers grow and this is just part of our larger strategy to help streamers find new viewers and make it easier to promote their content on and off Twitch. update.
Twitch streamers will likely be relieved that a workflow they previously sent to third-party tools like Flow ladder is now built into the platform itself. The feature update ultimately makes Twitch feel more connected to the wider social media ecosystem, a boon for a platform that works well with others and one for the streamers who rely on cross-promotion to build their audience.
Unlike other social media platforms suffering from multi-year identity crises (looking at you, Instagram), Twitch has long been single-mindedly committed to its core product: long-term live streaming. Twitch’s fresh embrace of vertical, short video is a minor thing, but it’s easy to imagine how the company could further leverage clips to help discover new streamers.
Twitch’s emphasis on live streaming is a double-edged sword. Discovery remains a pain point on the platform – and one that keeps creators tied to strenuous streaming schedules, encouraging more time live above all else. But the company’s leadership seems well aware of that, realizing that keeping streaming sustainable over the long term is one of the biggest challenges facing the platform today.
Even with its laser focus on live streaming, there’s nothing stopping Twitch from getting creative with short videos to solve some of its discovery problems. For now, the new clip editor is just a handy workaround for overworked creators, but Twitch might be smart to build it into something much bigger later on.
