A Twitch streamer asks her viewers if they would still watch if they knew that the streamer has a boyfriend. When they say, “Yes, we would still watch you,” she does not believe them.
This is the streamer: “supcaitlin” is a rather small streamer. She has 92,000 followers and streams about 5 times a week for two to three hours on Twitch. Most of the time she is in Just Chatting. But she also plays Valorant from time to time. Usually, about 1,000 viewers watch her.
In her stream, it is shown that she has about 3,600 subscribers, which would give her monthly earnings of about 9,000 euros from the ongoing support of paying subscribers.
If I had a boyfriend, would you still watch me?
This is what she asks her fans: In a stream, she asks her fans: “If I had a boyfriend: Who among you would still watch me?”
In the chat, the majority of users then type “Yes,” “Of course,” “Yeah” – they would keep watching her.
But the streamer does not believe the viewers:
“Hmm, that’s suspicious. I don’t believe you. There are some female streamers who are allowed to have boyfriends, BUT: It is different for them. Because these female streamers have built a community that is not based on breasts and sexual attraction.
I believe: A lot of you clicked on my channel because you saw those things or an outfit and thought: “I want to watch her because she might be hot” and that’s why you will disappear as soon as I have a boyfriend.”
Supcaitlin
Parasocial Relationships as a Business Model
This is what it’s about: The streamer is openly dealing with something, that the streamer “Pokimane” called a parasocial relationship.
Pokimane once explained that there is a phenomenon where viewers fall in love with an unreachable person and think they have a relationship with the streamer, even though it is one-sided: The streamer communicates to the community, and individual members take a “thank you” for themselves and feel like a personal friend of the streamer.
Pokimane distanced herself from this and said: She definitely does not want that. She would rather be a “safe Bitch” who ignores fans than someone who still nurtures such parasocial relationships. Because in the worst case, this leads tofans showing up at her house because they think they are the boyfriend of the streamer.
Supcaitlin seems to be fully aware of this “parasocial relationship.” Apparently, she anticipates that some of her viewers see her as a “potential girlfriend” and “reachable.” As soon as she destroys this illusion, the viewers would be gone, she believes.
According to this logic of a “parasocial relationship,” many boy and girl groups also function, where the members seem to be fundamentally single.
The tone between viewers and female streamers on Twitch is often tense:
What color is your string?” – Twitch streamer reacts perfectly
Supcaitlin seems to be fully aware of this “parasocial relationship.” Apparently, she anticipates that some of her viewers see her as a “potential girlfriend” and “reachable.” As soon as she destroys this illusion, the viewers would be gone, she believes.
According to this logic of a “parasocial relationship,” many boy and girl groups also function, where the members seem to be fundamentally single.
The tone between viewers and female streamers on Twitch is often tense:
What color is your string?” – Twitch streamer reacts perfectly
