
Last month, I described a few ways that politicians can use video games in their political campaigns.
The post described the way Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) used the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons to interact with gamers online.
By announcing what she was doing on social media, she was able to get the attention of casual bloggers and the mainstream press. As I mentioned in the post, the positive earned media coverage that she generated is something that public relations professionals dream of!
It is therefore not surprising that she tried something similar earlier this month to help Get Out the Vote (GOTV) for the Democratic Party.
However, this time she played the game Among Us and broadcast the gaming session on Twitch, the video livestreaming service operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.
AOC Used Twitter to Generate Interest
Once again, AOC used social media to get the word out about what she was doing on the video livestreaming service.
On October 19, 2020, she sent out a tweet asking if anyone would be interested in playing Among Us on Twitch to help get out the vote for the upcoming election.
That tweet generated over 398,000 likes, over 40,000 retweets, and over 15,000 Twitter users commented on the post.
Not a bad way to start.
It took her some time to set up the game and choose who would get to take part in the gaming session. (There were many well-known gamers to choose from!)
In the end, she didn’t actually go live on Twitch until the next day. Whether this was planned or a fortunate accident, I’m not sure. But it did help build up anticipation for the event. It also gave people some time to spread the word on social media.
Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020
Let’s do it! I’ll set up and account and get some streaming equipment today
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020
Getting set up! https://t.co/7WswCzWaWZ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020
Ohhh it’s ON sis!
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020
Don’t worry everyone – I haven’t streamed yet! Spent tonight setting up accounts, mods, streaming & run throughs. Hoping to go live tomorrow night🤞🏽
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 20, 2020
Near Record-Breaking Success on Twitch
The next day she announced that the Twitch livestreaming event would take place at 9 p.m. EST.
Among other gamers, she was joined by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Needless to say, the gaming session had the Internet buzzing. These are just some of the tweets that I either retweeted or bookmarked throughout the night.
Join me, @pokimanelol, @hasanthehun, & more on Twitch TONIGHT as we help folks make a voting plan at https://t.co/TskRLfhCt3 and officially declare orange sus on Among Us 🍊
Tune in 9pm tonight at https://t.co/nZap5fuerN https://t.co/HeKMeDDjXf
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 20, 2020
Here we goooo https://t.co/nZap5fuerN
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 21, 2020
We are going live! https://t.co/SqIsMxvMm9
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 21, 2020
AOC now the #1 stream on Twitch with over 325,000 viewers and over half a million people watching all streams in this lobby pic.twitter.com/WFZAs67krq
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 21, 2020
AOC already at double the peak viewership of Overwatch League
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 21, 2020
She’s going to be President some day. #FuturePotus #AOC
— KM (@kevmedina3371) October 21, 2020
A congresswoman turned Twitch streamer? This is unreal!!!!#AmongUs #AOC https://t.co/HiPmuKndyC
— 🦋 Star Force 🦋 (@StarForce97) October 21, 2020
I can’t believe I’m watching a Twitch stream of #AOC playing among us. I’m amazed and inherently excited to see elected officials being normal people for a change.
— AT (@ForksEsq) October 21, 2020
AOC did not know how to hold an emergency meeting pic.twitter.com/UZD0lFRYQ1
— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) October 21, 2020
correction: AOC’s debut stream has now peaked at 439,000 viewers, making it the third highest individual stream by viewership in Twitch history, only behind the Ninja/Drake collab (628k) and shroud’s return (500k)
the newest streaming superstar has arrived
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 21, 2020
@aoc playing among us on @Twitch :
“you can call me AOC, @VP can’t call me AOC!”
🔥🔥🔥🔥#AOC #AmongUsmemes #twitch #VoteReady #JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/5pzjVjQP7z— Tobon 🤡 🏒🌊 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 (@TobonMx) October 21, 2020
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first-ever Twitch stream is a gigantic success. https://t.co/TTMxtXwzm2
— CNET (@CNET) October 21, 2020
AOC as imposter. #aoc #amongus pic.twitter.com/T9wbxLoZ1H
— ًnaz (@CORPSECARTIER) October 21, 2020
AOC setting a trend that more politicians and other influencers outside of content creation will be using in the future. Watch this space. #twitch #streamer #aoc #amongus #influencer
— Vetur (@Vetuur) October 21, 2020
Honestly, it’s great to see a politician that can’t lie @AOC
— Lauren | VOTE WITH A BRAIN CELL PLEASE (@legendsofmood) October 21, 2020
Just saying I would be so down for political twitch stream battles over the current form of political debates. @AOC might be on to something 🤔
— Emily Sartorius, MSI (@EmilyySartorius) October 21, 2020
The last time I taught my Video Games, Politics, and Aesthetics course I started it with the clip of AOC going on Hbomberguy’s stream, I guess I have an updated version to start off this spring semester https://t.co/s9417KNU9o
— Oscar Moralde (@oscar_moralde) October 21, 2020
When you’re winning: pic.twitter.com/Fu7CMyCQDA
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 21, 2020
aoc being nervous about lying and being imposter is amazing #aoc pic.twitter.com/Vre5wDbVPt
— 𝒋𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂 🦋 (@H0NYMNAVE) October 21, 2020
Ilhan is carrying the team #AOC
— InVinoVeritas (@BJYLive) October 21, 2020
AOC’s debut Twitch stream is one of the biggest ever https://t.co/1hmAk38ipb pic.twitter.com/luXHYcZKdt
— The Verge (@verge) October 21, 2020
It was such a blast.
Super grateful to @AOC @hasanthehun and all the amazing gamers for a fun night. Poggers (am I using that right?). S/o to @isaiah_kb for my set up.
Follow us on twitch, I will be back 😉 https://t.co/ASv7E8V7vp
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 21, 2020
As the article that The Verge tweeted out mentions, “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made her Twitch debut tonight to play Among Us and encourage viewers to vote. She also, very quickly, became one of the platform’s biggest broadcasters: her stream peaked at 435,000 viewers around the time of her first match, according to Twitch. (The stream had dipped to around 350,000 viewers as of this writing, after about two hours of playing.)”
“That peak viewership puts her broadcast among the 20 biggest streams ever, according to third-party metrics site TwitchTracker, and much higher if you’re only looking at broadcasts from individual streamers,” the article continues. “Ninja holds the record for an individual streamer, with more than 600,000 viewers during a Fortnite match with Drake in 2018. TwitchTracker’s metrics suggest that AOC’s stream could [be] in the top 10 for an individual in terms of peak viewers.”
Whether or not it helped get out the vote, we don’t know yet. What we can say though is that she connected with a lot of potential voters and, once again, helped generate a lot of earned media that helped her cause and her personal brand, as well.
As Vetur tweeted, “AOC setting a trend that more politicians and other influencers outside of content creation will be using in the future. Watch this space.”
Video credit: NowThisNews on YouTube.