What is Clip Farming & Why Is It Controversial?

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Plus, expert tips on growing your Twitch channel without clip farming

Co-authored by Shayan Faraz and Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: September 8, 2025 Fact Checked

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• What is clip farming?
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• Is it useful?
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• How to Clip Farm
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• Better Ways to Grow on Twitch
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• Video

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Clip farming refers to streamers or content creators intentionally do something crazy or shocking during a livestream so they can use the clip later to generate engagement. It's a controversial tactic that many consider to be inauthentic. In this article, we dive into the different meanings of clip farming, explain whether or not it’s useful for growth, and work with various social media experts to explain how to clip farm (and dig into other ways to grow on Twitch). Read on to learn all about clip farming!

What is clip farming on Twitch?

Clip farming is a derogatory term that refers to a streamer or creator intentionally doing something outrageous or controversial to generate buzz through easy-to-share online video clips. Clip farming is a form of clickbait and generally frowned upon as an inauthentic and exploitative way to expand your following.

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Section 1 of 4:

What is clip farming?

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1. 
   Clip farming is intentionally doing something outrageous on a livestream to get clipped. Clipping is when you take a small, attention-grabbing section of the livestream and edit it into a short-form video. People clip farm by doing something outrageous, unusual or off-the-wall, like running around in a grocery store and knocking the items off the shelves, messing with security guards in public, or doing something they don’t usually do, to get clipped, generate views, and boost engagement on their social media channels. Clip farming is heavily debated online, as some people believe it’s a lazy way to boost engagement.

   • TikTok Example: On January 26, 2025, TikToker @bermius asked his dad how many wings he ate, and his dad said, “Like 6-7,” with a dramatic shrug, presumably clip farming (which was called out in the caption) by referring to the Gen Alpha 6-7 meme.
   • TikTok Example: On April 28, 2025, @top5zonee posted a TikTok going over 5 clip farming moments. These moments included streamer Plaqueboymax pushing a fellow streamer, who dramatically fell, and someone throwing a camera in the pool.
   • When people say you’re clip farming, they usually aren’t doing it in a nice way, as it’s often seen as an inauthentic way to gain views.
   • There is another form of clip farming that involves clipping other content and repurposing it for views and profit. It’s often looked at as a lazy, unethical way to farm views and get monetized, as it requires stealing other creators’ content.

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Candace Gasper is a Social Media & Digital Marketing Consultant with 7+ years of experience.

   Ben Whitehair is a Social Media Expert with over a decade of experience specializing in leveraging social media for business and building relationships.

   Travis Peters is an Advertising Expert with 15+ years of experience implementing marketing and advertising techniques across digital and traditional media.

   Carolyn Powery is a Business Etiquette Expert with 16+ years of experience providing clients with tools for success in social and business environments.

   Beth Cormack is a Social Media Manager with 5+ years of experience. She specializes in multi-channel social media marketing and storytelling.
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Section 2 of 4:

Is clip farming useful for growing on Twitch?

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1. 
   Clip farming can be useful short-term with negative long-term impact. While clip farming may encourage audience growth, your audience will likely expect that type of content from you as you continue to grow. If you aren’t prepared to regularly supply said content on a frequent schedule, it may lead to burnout and disappoint the audience you’ve cultivated. So, while it may be useful, it’s important to consider the long-term impacts of clip farming.

   • Clip farming can push your audience away if it doesn’t align with your established brand.
   • Clip farming can sometimes be useful if you do it thoughtfully and sparingly. For example, if you’re trying to spread a funny clip from your recent comedy show to people it’d align with, posting it under comedy hashtags on various platforms would be just fine!
   • Clip farming can be harmful when it’s done without consideration for others. For example, when popular streamers Ash Alk and Nina Lin were handcuffed together, Alk dumped Lin’s food while she was eating on stream, which upset and enraged Lin.
     • Lin had also recently lost her grandfather, and earlier in the stream, she was already visibly upset with Alk. So when Alk attempted to clip farm at her expense, she understandably crashed out.

Section 3 of 4:

How to Clip Farm

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1. 
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   Do or say something out of pocket if you’re a streamer. If you’re the person streaming and trying to get a clip-worthy moment, do something that’s out of character, like walking in public with your shoes on the wrong foot, loudly singing a song at a park, or talking about a hot take you have unapologetically. Make sure you catch it on camera, and try not to disturb others, especially when you’re in public.

   • Avoid doing something crazy in a business or to someone, like pouring milk all over the floor of a grocery store or loudly singing in someone’s ear, as it can lead to potential fines and/or prison time.
   • TikToker Heston James faces 9 years in prison after a series of clip farms where he pretended to be an employee at various stores and disturbed their workdays, so be careful with your clip farming.
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   Select the clips you want to use and download. Watch the stream back and look for popular, clippable moments. Check the clips tab under the Videos tab on Twitch to find moments that your audience will engage with. Once you find the clips you want to use, screen record them to download them to the device you edit on.
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   Open an editing software with auto-captions and format the stream. The auto-captions are useful for keeping your audience engaged, so you’ll need them for later. Open two versions of the clip in your editing software, crop the streamer’s face onto the bottom half of the screen with one, then crop the stream onto the top half with the other(or vice versa, whichever looks more aesthetically pleasing to you).

   • Social media & digital marketing consultant Candace Gasper suggests using CapCut to edit your clips, as it’s an easy-to-use video editing tool.
   • Consider changing the color or filter on the clips if you’re repurposing them from other streamers to make your content eligible for monetization.
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   Cut out any ums, ahs, or unengaging content. Review your clips for any vocal filler and get rid of it to keep things concise. As you review the clips, look for anything else that isn’t engaging for the viewer, like awkward silences or chat responses, and cut them out, too. Aim for that 1-minute mark if you’re looking to monetize the clip(s).
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   Add the auto captions. Once you’ve cut and formatted your clips together, use the auto-captions feature in your editing software to add the auto captions. Review them for any spelling or grammatical errors once they’ve been generated, change the color if you’d like, add them to the clip, then watch the entire clip to see how it flows.
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   Add a unique caption and music, then export. To finish off your clip and make it unique, add a caption that captures the gist of the clip. For example, if you’re clipping a moment where you did a flip off a bench in front of a bunch of people, caption it with something like “Dude does crazy backflip in front of NPCs” to get viewers’ attention. Add some music or a trending sound to boost your chances of engagement, then export the clip when you’re satisfied.
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   Post your clip onto social media platforms. Once you’ve made the clip, it’s time to farm it. Farming a clip basically means posting it on other platforms to increase its chances of being seen and engaged with. So, post the clip on platforms like Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook so it can be noticed and help boost your online presence.
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Section 4 of 4:

Better Ways to Grow on Twitch

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1. 
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   Focus on what you can provide your audience. When you’re trying to grow online, social media expert Ben Whitehair says to ask yourself, “What can I give instead of what can I get?” By focusing on what you can provide your community and working to make that happen, everything else will take care of itself. So, if your audience enjoys gaming content, focus on streaming the types of games they like the most.

   • Whitehair says it’s important to “utilize all the different parts of the platform and to actually engage with your community. If you’re wanting more attention from your community, then make sure that you’re adding value to that community.”
   • Focus on providing content that will be entertaining to your audience.
   • Finding your niche and figuring out what type of content your audience enjoys the most can make the streaming process easier and help boost online popularity, as you’ll be able to consistently deliver what they’re looking for.
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   Be consistent with your content. Whether you want to stream once a day or once a week, stay on top of that rate to build trust and anticipation with your followers. Advertising expert Travis Peters says, “Don’t focus on increasing social media followers. Instead, focus on creating authentic and consistent content and the followers and engagement will happen organically.”
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   Show up as your authentic self on stream. Being your authentic self can help followers connect with you, which is a huge plus for building a loyal audience. Plus, it’s much easier to be yourself than to try and emulate anyone else. According to Business Etiquette Expert Carolyn Powery, when you aren’t being yourself, “people can see right through that,” so it’s best to make your online presence align with who you are in person.
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   Talk about trends in your streams. Social media manager Beth Cormack says, “With social media in general, you definitely want to stay on top of things that are trending, not just in terms of hashtags and sounds, but also just like general things that are trending.” Make sure that you’re staying on top of what’s relevant and quickly create content reacting to that.

   • Don’t make trends the main topic of your streams unless that’s the niche you want to go into, or else your audience may start to expect takes on pop culture and trending moments regularly.
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   Post your content on multiple platforms. There isn’t anything wrong with posting your own clips on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. According to Gasper, “being able to build audiences across multiple platforms will help bolster your main platform because it allows you to reach other people who might not otherwise be on Twitch.”

   • Posting content on multiple platforms also helps grow your brand, as you’re getting your image out there and gaining views and followers, which can get you into Creator programs.
   • Creator programs allow you to monetize your online content and access exclusive features that can assist in growing as a content creator.
   • Looking to monetize your content online? Check out these helpful wikiHow articles:
     • How to Make Money on YouTube
     • How to Make Money on Instagram
     • How to Make Money on Facebook
     • How to Make Money on TikTok
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