It basically means trend. It's sorta evolved from the concept of "metagaming" where you're not just playing the game, you're gaming the game. People now use "the meta" to refer to the collection of viable strategies for a game, and "the current meta" to refer to what is popular at this moment. This could be types of decks in a card game, character builds in an MMO or a MOBA, or other things like that. Presumably, for twitch, "the meta" is referring to not strategies of playing games, but strategies of gaming twitch. In other words, strategies to maximize viewership and income, and specifically, what is working at any given time.
This is also what metadata is. Data about data. Not whats inside a file, but the files name, date it was created, created by whom, accessed when, etc. You can also have metadata about metadata, which itself is just metadata.
I've seen some people debate whether "meta" means "applying a concept to itself" or "most effective tactic available". In gaming, both kind of make sense. But in the context of business models for twitch streams, only the second definition works. (even though it originated from the word "metagame", where "meta" wasn't an acronym)
Mm, I think the first also works. Because the meta of twitch requires a shift in thinking from "I am doing a thing, that happens to be on the platform twitch" into "how does the platform of twitch work as a platform, and what actions can I take to manipulate the platform to do what I want it to do."
Shifts of not only content you like to make -> content that gets max views, but also making content when its convenient -> make content during specific peak hours, etc.
oh haha. well that does sound viral, but how was that not banned? don't people get their streams removed for stuff like that? I gotta be honest, I hate twitch lol so I have no idea about any of it.