If you’re someone who uses Twitch a lot and likes to watch streams from some of the most popular streamers, then you will have almost certainly noticed how chaotic and busy their Twitch chat can be.
When lots of people are watching a stream, there can be tens of thousands of people in the chat, all talking at once.
If your own Twitch chats are getting so busy that you’re struggling to keep up, then don’t panic.
There is a way to slow down your chat so you can catch up. This is where Twitch’s Slow Mode comes in.
What Is Slow Mode On Twitch?
Slow Mode on Twitch is a command that will let you control how often people in your stream are allowed to send messages.
In most cases, streamers will use this command if they having a difficult time keeping up with all the messages that are coming up in their char during their stream.
Mods of the stream are also able to use the slow mode command if they see that the streamer is struggling to keep up.
Slow Mode on Twitch is very easy to enable and disable.
How To Turn On Slow Mode On Twitch
To turn on slow mode and start using it on your Twitch stream, all you need to do is type in the command /slow and the number of seconds that you want the chat to be delayed by.
Your command should look something like ‘/slow 3’ or ‘/slow 10’, for example.
You can also click on the cogwheel that you can see located at the bottom of the chatbox, turn on slow mode from this menu, and select the delay time that you want to be set in your chat.
However, if you decide to enable slow mode by clicking on the cogwheel and selecting slow mode, rather than typing in the command, you will only be able to choose from the preset times that Twitch gives you, such as 3 seconds or 10 seconds.
You cannot set a custom time this way. If you want a custom delay time, you will need to use the typed command.
Whether you use the typed command or the cogwheel, then a message should appear in your chat, confirming that you have enabled slow mode, so you know that the command has worked.
Both the streamer and one of the streamer’s mods can enable slow mode to slow down the chat.
If one of your mods can see that you are struggling to keep up with your chat messages, they can choose to help you out and slow down the chat a bit for you.
All they need to do is use the /slow command, and slow mode will be enabled for you.
This mode is very useful to help you catch up with the chat when it’s moving quickly, but you don’t want to leave it on forever.
When you’ve caught up, you can disable the slow mode function just as easily as you enabled it.
How To Turn Off Slow Mode On Twitch
When you have managed to catch up with your chat again, you should turn off slow mode.
To turn the slow mode off again, all you need to do is type the command /slowoff into the chatbox and press enter.
Once you have done this, slow mode will be disabled again. You can also click on the cogwheel that you can find at the bottom of the chatbox, click the slow mode tab, and then click to turn it off.
If you have successfully turned off slow mode, you will see a message confirming that it has been disabled in your chat.
If you are planning to just use slow mode temporarily to help you catch up, then make sure don’t forget to turn the slow mode off again.
If you do forget to turn this mode off, people will become annoyed if they go into your chat and have to wait ten seconds for a reply.
You could end up losing viewers if you leave slow mode on all the time and forget to shut it off.
If you use it temporarily, there are several good reasons to make use of the slow mode feature. It is something that you should be using to help you make the most of your chat while you stream.
Why Do Streamers Use Slow Mode On Twitch?
Streamers will use slow mode to slow down messages in their chat rooms when things are moving too fast.
When a streamer has too many people talking in their chat, they may decide to enable slow mode to allow them to be able to respond to all the people chatting in their chat room and to be better able to moderate what is happening in the chat room.
Some really huge streamers, with lots and lots of viewers, choose not to use slow mode at all. This is probably because they have tens of thousands of viewers all watching the streams, which means that slowing down their chat wouldn’t really make too much of a difference.
With thousands of people trying to talk all at the same time, streamers unfortunately just have to learn to handle the chaos and work with it as best they can.
However, if you are a streamer with a small or medium-sized audience, then slow mode could make sense and be very useful for you.
Once you reach the point where you have a few dozen or a few hundred people trying to chat in your stream, then you can start finding it very difficult to keep up with all of the different conversations that are going on.
If you find that you are getting overwhelmed with the chat, then you can use slow mode to slow it down a little bit, so you keep up.
Slowing down the chat for a little while will help you to read and respond to all the messages that are being posted, so everyone gets acknowledged.
Another advantage of slowing down the chat by enabling slow mode is that when you have too many people chatting all at once, it can become very difficult to properly moderate your chat.
This means that if people are being rude, inappropriate, or aggressive in your chat, you might miss it, accidentally letting the inappropriate messages stay up. This is even more difficult to keep on top of if you don’t have any mods around to help you chat.
You can use slow mode to slow the chat so you can have a sweep for messages that need to be removed.
Slow mode can also be used to discourage people from hogging the chat. Some people talk too much in chat boxes, and rather than having to time these people out (which people don’t like, and which can encourage them to leave the stream), you can just slow down the chat so that the person or people talking a lot aren’t dominating your chat room.
There are a lot of reasons why a streamer might choose to make use of slow mode, so you can look at these reasons to help you to decide if the slow mode is something that you want to use for your own channel.
Should You Use Slow Mode On Twitch?
If you start to feel as though you are getting overwhelmed by all the people chatting in your Twitch stream, then you should make use of the Slow Mode feature to help you be able to respond and moderate better in your chat room.
However, if you are a small streamer, then you should try to avoid using the Slow Mode functionality. You don’t have a real need for it just yet.
As a small streamer or a streamer who is just getting started, you will probably only have a handful of people that visit your stream when you go live. When you’re still small, it is not too difficult to respond to, talk to, and moderate a few people in your stream.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by a few people chatting in your stream, then it is better to leave slow mode off for the time being, so you can learn how to game and chat at the same time.
Once you start growing as a streamer, and a few talkative people start to come to your streams, then you might want to think about turning on slow mode occasionally.
Depending on how many people you get in your steam, this should determine how long a delay you choose. You can customize your delay to suit your needs and even a short delay can make a big difference.
It’s not wise to use slow mode unless you are getting overwhelmed by your chat. Twitch is about real-time connections with your viewers, and slow mode can lessen that connection. It is a useful tool to have when you need it, but try not to rely on it too often.
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