Twitch Streamers Are Upset With New Tagging System

Twitch recently rolled out a new tagging system to help viewers find streamers that fit what they’re looking for, but some streamers aren’t thrilled with the new feature.

Unveiling Tags and new Categories, Twitch said that streamers can add Tags to their streams with up to five different Tags appearing alongside the video thumbnail and in other spots to help viewers easily find them. These Tags, Twitch says, will help streams be recommended to viewers based on viewing history to build a more personalized experience.

Both the Creative and IRL Categories have also been expanded with Twitch saying that viewers have expressed that the two Categories perhaps weren’t descriptive enough to let viewers know what they were getting into.

“We’ve heard from many viewers that these categories have such a wide variety of content that it’s difficult for them to find streamers around the topics they’re interested in,” Twitch’s announcement said. “Starting today, we’re replacing IRL and Creative with 10 new categories designed to help viewers find streamers around things they love from Art, to Science & Technology, to Talk Shows and Podcasts, and beyond.”

But as some Twitch streamers have expressed (via Kotaku), the Tags that replace the old Communities feature aren’t being received quite as well. Twitch Streamer SonicGhost lamented the loss of the Communities feature and said that there were fewer Tags available to describe a stream. Twitch Partner SeriouslyClara shared some similar thoughts on the new system while commenting on the lack of indie-related Tags that streamers can choose from.

Twitch’s new Tags and Categories system is now live for streamers to use and viewers to browser through.