Twitch chat is a vital component for growing an audience on the streaming platform. It lets you interact with your followers beyond just putting on an entertaining show. And your fans can actively participate by chatting with you, each other, and using custom chat badges to show support.
While it may only seem useful as an active communication tool during a stream, there are more benefits to checking your Twitch chat than you might think. Read on to find out why you should care about checking your Twitch logs and the different ways to do so.
As said before, live chat is a vital tool when streaming, but there are several reasons why you might want to check your chat history after the fact.
When you’re in the middle of playing a game, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on how your audience is reacting. And there lies the issue, right? As a streamer, you want to know if what you’re doing actually resonates with your fans.
Maybe you’re trying out a new load-out, diving into personal stories for the first time, or are even just shifting your streaming schedule to a different time of day. Sure, you can check Twitter to see what people thought, but this often doesn’t give you realistic feedback. Being able to see authentic reactions from the chat is a much more reliable method to see if what you’re doing works.
You can’t be too careful when streaming. If you or one of your Mods sees trolling or offensive comments in the chat the ban hammer can be swift and merciless. If that user ends up wanting to appeal the ban, it’s incredibly helpful to review your chat logs to see if they actually violated any of your rules.
Did you recently receive a penalty and aren’t sure why? Well someone in your comments may have violated Twitch’s terms of service. Being able to review your chat to check and provide proof when appealing the penalty is an unfortunate but useful method to keep your channel free and clear.
In the past, Twitch didn’t exactly make it easy to check your chat logs and it would either require manually recording, taking notes, or finding a third-party review service. Now there are multiple methods for you to check your chat history that makes the process much easier.
One simple way to check your chat logs is to utilize the in-app VOD recording. Twitch recently added the chat recording feature to VODs which makes it incredibly easy to review specific comments or users from past streams.
One limitation with this system is that Affiliates are limited to only the last 2-weeks of recordings. Those that have not gained Affiliate status are granted access to even less, only being able to review the past few days streams.
If you would like to review specific accounts, you can utilize the user search command feature. Simply type /user [username] in the channel chat and you can review:
This method also makes it easier to check how recently a user account was created. It’s helpful for identifying if a user created a new account to get around earlier bans.
If you’re consistently staying up-to-date with your chat reviews, the Twitch tools may be enough. But if you want greater control, long-standing records, and improved insight you may want to consider utilizing a third-party tool or chatbot.
Before Twitch created the in-app search capabilities, the most popular chat review tool was and still is Chatty. It’s an easy to use, open-sourced software with a number of useful features such as downloading the chat transcript and auto-moderation support based around specific preset terms. It even retains emotes and badges to keep things cohesive and easy to read.
Only drawback with Chatty is that if you or a Mod delete any comments during a stream they won’t show up.
There are a number of great third-party chatbots available to help you manage and moderate your channel. Each option will include different feature variations and chat review capabilities, so be sure to do your research around your overall streaming needs before committing.
If you need help deciding, check out our guide on the best chatbots for streamers, for a full rundown of our go-to extensions.
No matter which method you choose to do it, reviewing your Twitch chat is vital for improving your channel. It helps you gauge and track audience interest, maintain a record of bans and easily dispute any terms of service violations caused by chat.
Any of the options mentioned are incredibly easy to use, and it’s up to you to decide the level of insight and complexity you need to run your channel successfully.
