The paradigm shift brought about by the audiovisual communication networks is something that is already far away, an issue apparently surpassed by conversation, and yet it seems to be continually surpassed by the speed at which phenomena linked to communication on the internet evolve.
The ability to know how to give the public something they want, even if they don’t know it yet
Twitch represents, in many ways, one of the latest massive changes we have witnessed as a global community. Its emergence made streaming explode as a phenomenon, initially linked to the video game. Now, as Dr. Ian Malcom said, life is making its way, and human beings do not cease in their attempts to find increasingly imaginative ways to monetize their participation in this type of service. Ludwig Ahgren He is not new in these parts, in fact his account already had more than 2 million followers. But his latest invention can be classified as innovative and, if in fact it is not, at least it has been the first to achieve such a level of notoriety..
What crossed his mind to good old Ludwig was start a streaming marathon and link its duration to the rate of subscriptions your channel was earning. That is, the live started with a countdown that gains 10 seconds each time a new viewer decides to subscribe, so the proposed format ties the streamer to the will of its viewers. In this way, on Sunday night, when the protagonist of this story went to bed, he had, depending on the accumulated subscriptions, with about 18 hours of broadcasting ahead. Upon waking up the next day the figure had risen to 27 hours. During the night, while he took his night nap, The boost his channel received was such that he ended up becoming the most viewed streamer on Twitch while also becoming a trend on Twitter.. Since then it has barely dropped below 30,000 viewers, reaching more than 50,000 on more than one occasion.
Exposure, and control of the situation in the hands of the public, something that is not really new
Ludwig’s self-aware “Truman Show” is something worth studying. An experience with sufficient sociological value to feed debate and reflection on communication and entertainment. But the maneuver is anything but fortuitous. The statutes of Twitch establish clear rules regarding the terms that content broadcasters must comply with while they are on the air on the platform. These include the impossibility of leaving the channel and its chat unattended. Taking into account that Ahgren carries out practically all of its activities liveExcept (and luckily, I would add) the visits to the toilet, there was a great danger that at some point he would run into this situation. Nothing is further from the truth, since Among its moderators and followers, the channel is always attended with talks, recommendations and even live games from other streamers who are dedicated to entertaining the staff. In fact, at the time of this writing, there are two people fighting Super Big Bird.
How did we get here? We could ask ourselves some, and the tone could be both humorous, inquisitive and curious, because the fact is, to say the least, interesting as a sample of collective behavior. And the truth is that Peter Weir and Andrew Niccol already told us about human curiosity for the everyday lives of others, in the so-called Truman Show, more than 20 years ago. And after that, the string of reality shows that have passed through our screens is almost incalculable. But eThis step involves something similar to the democratization of the formula, something that is now within the reach of anyone who has a PC, a camera and the desire to get into an experience of this type. Ludwig has taken a step beyond traditional streaming, to such an extent that this modality has become part of some of the sections of this 24/7 show, occupying the moments in which he has dedicated himself to playing, for example, Super Mario Odyssey.
Reflections will come
On the other hand, it is curious that the peak of viewers and subscriptions occurred precisely while Ludwig was sleeping. Which seems like an allegation of inaction as an element of surprise, of the lack of content as the main content and the event as the core of the event, without necessarily there having to be something else to justify it, right? The power to collaborate in the control of the life of another person during a certain time, does not seem something minor. Go ahead that this is not, by any means, a criticism. Rather, it is a rambling, without order or control, about something that, I think, has the ability to powerfully attract the attention of many, in fact there are the numbers.
I consider myself truly ignorant when it comes to sociology, and only slightly less novel when it comes to communication. But I’m looking forward to seeing what reflections this Ludwig Ahgren marathon can generate in heads that really dominate the matter. Meanwhile I will continue to watch in amazement, how the conversation about communication continues to be overtaken by its evolution.
