I've been steaming with my friends about twice a week for a couple years. It's their channel, I just join in more often than not. They've got like, 30 followers, usually 0-1 viewers, but I think it's more important that it's a scheduled time to play games and hang out.

My advice would be give it a shot, and don't worry about the algorithm, viewers, or content optimization, because getting to be a big streamer is like being a rock star, highly unlikely. Just play games and turn on the stream.