Put Your “Hand Emotes in the Air:” Twitch Concerts as Unsuccessful Large-Scale Interaction Rituals

Abstract

Recent years have seen mediated concerts grow in popularity. As physical events, concerts accommodate both small- and large-scale interaction. However, the extent to which these interactions establish emotional energy online is debated. Combining video observations and video elicitation interviews with participants of live music on the online platform Twitch, this paper explores this growing form of music consumption while also adding to the debate on the appropriateness of the virtual sphere in accommodating successful interaction rituals. It finds that the online sphere is more suited to small-scale interaction. Large-scale interaction rituals are unsuccessful, suffering from a context collapse, social convergence, and no rhythmic entrainment.