Many viewers love to chat in the streamer chat room. Especially if something incredible or funny happens during the stream. If there are too many viewers who chat at the same time, it will be hard to view the chat individually. But, using Twitch Slow Mode, you can slow down the chat speed on your channel
What is Slow Mode Command on Twitch?
Slow Mode is a Twitch command that delays the viewers from chatting for a period of time from each chat. The default time from each chat is 30 seconds but it can be modified. Only Channel Owner and Moderators can enable and disable Twitch Slow Mode. Twitch Slow Mode can be enabled in any channel without any requirement
Why do Many Streamers Use Slow Mode on their Channel?
Using Slow Mode is a good way to moderate the messages on the channel’s chat room. When enabled, viewers can’t repeatedly chat in your chat room. There will be a delay after each chat. Streamers use Slow Mode because they have too many viewers use the chat feature on the chat room.
Many streamers love to respond to a viewer’s chat. Enabling Slow Mode can help the streamer to engage with viewers. Since Slow Mode will limit the number of chatters, it can reduce spammer, troll and help to reduce the need for moderation in the chat room.
How To Enable Slow Mode on Twitch
Enabling Slow Mode in your chat room is easy. Just type /slow in your chatbox. It automatically disables the user from sending a message within 30 seconds of each other. You can configure the duration by adding the number of seconds after the command. Example: /slow 30 or /slow 5. You can use the chat setting to enable the command
Here is a complete guide on how to enable the Slow Mode command
The Quick Way is to Type /slow on the chat to enable the Slow Mode
You can type /slow <seconds> to specify the duration of the Slow Mode
You can also Open the Chat Setting by clicking the setting symbol
Click the “Slow Mode” option on the “Channel Modes” menu
Choose How long the command’s duration
I recommend choosing 10 Seconds because it’s not too long and too short. In 1 minute, viewers can only chat 6 times. It’s the best duration after I tested the other setting.
Don’t choose 120 Seconds as the Slow Mode duration. It’s too long. If you can only chat after 2 minutes, viewers will easily leave your channel.
According To Twitch Help, Partnered Twitch Channel can allow Subscribers to bypass the Slow Mode limit from the Stream Dashboard Setting. This can be used to give subscribers an extra privilege or perks.
After Enabling the Slow Mode, of course, you can disable it.
How to Disable Slow Mode Command on Your Twitch Channel
To disable Slow Mode, type the /slowoff command in your channel chatbox. Beware that only Channel Owner and Moderators can disable the Slow Mode command. Once disabled, the Slow Mode command can still be re-enabled at any time.
After disabling the command, you will get a notification on your chat
You can disable Slow Mode when there are fewer viewers on your stream.
If you are a viewer, you can kindly ask the moderator to reduce the delay duration if it’s too long
Will Enabling Slow Mode Help My Channel?
Enabling the Slow Mode command can help chat moderation in many ways. Slow Mode can reduce the amount of spammer and troll in your chat room. Limiting the number of chatters can also reduce the pressure on your Channel Moderators
For small streamers with less than 100 viewers, don’t enable Slow Mode. Slow Mode will limit the viewer’s ability to chat. On a small channel, it’s better if all viewers can chat anytime. It can cultivate the relationship between the streamer and the viewers
Turning on Slow Mode is only best if are already have a thousand viewers. Even if only 5% of viewers are chatting, there are at least 50 chatters in the chatroom. It will be chaotic if you don’t have any moderator on your channel.
Slow Mode won’t benefit that much to Top 100 Streamers. They have at least 10 thousand viewers at any given time. Even if Slow Mode is enabled, many viewers will still chat. So, if you have thousands of viewers during the stream, it’s better to disable Slow Mode.
You can use slow mode to reduce the number of chatty viewers. It’s okay to use chat with each other during a stream. But a certain number of viewers can dominate the conversation on the chat room. It’s good if the conversation is in a good direction and related to the stream
But what if many chatters love to talk about themselves instead of about the stream. Or worse, Spam, Beg, and Troll Messages.
It’s better to enable Slow Mode in this case
Should You Use Slow Mode Command on Your Twitch Channel?
Only enable the Slow Mode if you have many spams and trolls on your chat room, you have no moderators on your channel, or you have thousands of viewers on your stream. Enabling Slow Mode can reduce the discussion on your channel, limiting channel growth. If you are still a small streamer, don’t enable the command
It’s not recommended for Beginner streamer who hasn’t even got the Twitch Affiliate status to use the Slow Mode command yet.
Why?
Because Slow Mode can reduce the amount of discussion and chat on your channel. If the chat room is empty, many viewers will more likely to leave the stream. It can harm the growth of your channel
Since Slow Mode is only truly needed on a medium or big-sized channel, then you shouldn’t enable the command too early.
Slow Mode is a command that can let you control the message flow in your chat room. In the above, I already explain how to configure the Slow Mode. You can try it yourself.
To be honest, as long you are not a beginner streamer, the advantage of Slow Mode outweighs the disadvantage.
The Advantages of Enabling Slow Mode are:
1. Limit Spam and prevent flooding
Maybe the terms of Flooding are not common for you. Flooding happens when your chat is only filled with spam messages. This can be a disaster since your viewers can’t chat with each other because spam messages overflood the chat room. Enabling Slow Mode can prevent from getting flooded
2. Reduce Troll
Many Twitch users love to troll the streamers. Most of the time it’s harmless. But in some case streamer are depressed from getting bullied by their streamers. Trolls hate slow mode because they can’t keep trolling on the chat room. They will exit your stream if they can’t message quickly
3. Help the Moderators
Moderating the chat room is hard work. Enabling Slow mode can reduce the works of moderators. If your channel doesn’t have moderators then Slow Mode is a free firewall on your chat room
The Disadvantages of Enabling Slow Mode are:
1. Reduce Viewer Engagement
If you want your viewers to freely chat during your stream, then you should not enable Slow Mode. Limiting how many times you can chat can reduce the conversation on your stream. It won’t matter that much if you already Twitch Partner with daily thousand viewers. But if not, don’t enable it
2. Unique Chat Mode is much better
If you want to prevent spam, the “Unique Chat” command is much better than Slow Mode. Consider using the Unique Chat command first.
3. Many Twitch Users Dislike Slow Mode
The thing is, many viewers won’t like it if they got a limit on how many times they can chat during a stream. I for sure won’t like it if I need to wait a moment before I can chat again
What If by times I can chat, the conservation direction already changes? It will be awkward right?
I do not recommend enabling slow mode unless you can’t keep up responding to your chat. Chat matters because it cultivates the relationship between the streamers and the viewers. Not only that, viewers can chat with each other during a stream.
It’s like a real conversation between friends. That’s why try to not limit this engagement as best you can