Chat logs or chat history is important data you must check as a streamer on Twitch. From the chat, you as a streamer can understand what the viewers talked about during the stream. Analyze it and you will know why your viewers chat in your chat room in the first place. It’s important because by knowing the cause, you can improve your stream in the future
What are Chat Logs on Twitch?
Chat Logs are recorded chat data of viewers in the chat room during a stream on Twitch. Chat Logs can only be viewed by Channel Owner and Moderators. You can view Chat Logs of each Twitch user or all recorded chats from all Twitch users that had chat in the chat room. Chat logs can be viewed during and after the stream
According to Twitch Customer Support, Chat Logs are the data of chat and message recorded on your channel
Why You should View the Chat Logs on your Twitch Channel
Chat Logs is important data that streamer can use to analyze their channel and increase viewers, followers and subscribers growth
Below is the benefit of checking your chat logs on your channel:
1. Analyze your viewer Demographic
From the chat logs, you can see a list of messages sent by your viewers. Usually, there is a tendency how your viewers will act in a specific condition. Some viewers love to send emotes during a funny moment. You can use this data to your advantage
From the list of messages, analyze it!
- Do your viewers love to post using emotes?
Then create catchy emotes for the subscriber’s perks
- Do your viewers like to have serious discussions with other viewers?
Then you should join them during the stream. Pay attention to the chat if there is any viewer that ask a question to you
And many more. By knowing your viewers, it will be easier to get closer and get loyal fans on your channel.
2. Chat Moderation
Toxic behavior in a chat room is not rare. When you are too busy during a stream, sometimes you can miss the toxic chat.
Moderators and Channel owners can use Chat Log for channel moderation. By double-checking using the chat logs, you can check which viewers are creating toxic situation during your stream
You can report it and ban that viewer from using the chat room.
3. Knowing the true fans of your channel
If you are lucky, you can get fans that keep watching your stream and active in the chat room. Usually, they are the leader of your community. It will be hard to separate them from casual viewers on your stream
By using the Chat Logs, you can see how many times a viewer chat and the list of their message.
If you find a loyal fan on your channel, it will be easy to gather more viewer and follower
Just greet them during the stream. Respond to their chat. Respond to their tweet. But don’t give too much attention because It can make other viewers jealous.
It will make your community become more active. Sometimes, those loyal fans will promote your Twitch channel on their social media
4. Improving your streaming skill
If you are a beginner streamer, it’s normal if your stream is not perfect and you make too many mistakes during a stream
- Maybe the voice on your stream is too loud.
Some of your viewers may ask to adjust your mic setting
- Maybe you make too many mistakes on your stream.
You can listen to your viewer advice from their chat
In case you miss them, viewers’ advice can help you to grow your skill as a streamer. Check carefully your chat logs in case there is a viewer that gives a piece of good advice to improve your streaming skill
If a viewer gave you feedback on what they like or advice on your streaming or your content, you may want to review it later on so that you can take better notes and implement their suggestions.
If you listen to your audience’s advice, you can adjust your streams to give better entertainment to the viewers. It can help to make your stream more engaging to your viewers.
5. Keeping up with the new MEME
Meme is a part of Twitch culture. Many of your viewers’ chats will be related to a meme. Not all streamers can know the new meme that recently became popular on Twitch.
As a streamer, you should know about the popular memes that are related to the game you stream and use them in your conversation with viewers.
Meme is a good way to help you engage with your viewers
For Example:
In Dota 2, if you got stuck in a cliff, many of your viewers will bombard you with “Arteezy Clift”
When you play Valorant, if you said “Man, the map’s balance on this game keeps getting worse”. Most viewers will agree with you
Now do you see the benefit of learning meme?
So don’t forget to check the chat logs so you can keep up with the times and new memes
Now that you know the benefit of using chat logs, below is a guide on how to view the chat logs
How to View Chat Logs on Your Twitch Channel:
1. Saved Past Broadcast from VODs
Video On Demand will record your entire stream along with the chat history. You can replay the saved Past Broadcast and view the chat in the chat room
Go to your channel page, find the video in question, and review the chat logs of the stream.
Beware that you can only see the chat on Twitch. If you export or download the VODs, it won’t save the chat logs
You need to enable VODs first before the stream you want to check the chat logs. If you haven’t enabled the VOD first before of the mentioned stream, then you can’t view the chat logs. Check out this guide if you want to know more about Video on Demand on Twitch
2. Use User Research Command to check message from a Twitch User
Since you need to have a Twitch account to chat in the chat room, you can check the respective message of the viewer using User Research Command.
According To Twitch Help, Streamers and Channel Moderators can use /user <type username here> command to check the chat logs and other information from the user that view your stream
Using this command, you can see data about the specific username such as:
- Message history on your channel.
- Time out and Ban History
- Date of Account Creation
You can use these data to filter spam and moderate your channel. For example, if the date of account creation is too recent, maybe it’s spam or bot account
With message history, you can ban a viewer that toxic in your chat room
3. Use Third-Party Software to view your Chat Logs
Since there is a limited duration on how long the VOD will last, you need to download using third party software if you want to save the chat logs
You can use software like Chatty and Chatterino that managed your chat on your channel to view the chat logs.
You can use this software to download and backup your Twitch chat history on your channel. Backing up your Chat Logs is recommended because Video on Demand on Twitch last 60 days if you have Twitch Partners, Prime, and Twitch Turbo or 14 days for other streamers
4. Use Chatbot to View Chat Logs on Your Channel
Chatbot is a convenient tool that many streamers use to moderate the chat room on their channels. Most Chatbot offers the feature to view and download chat logs in your channel
If you had already use Chatbot, then you don’t need to use other software to manage your chat logs
How to Check Twitch Chat Logs as a Viewer
Viewers can’t get their chat logs data from any channel. Because chat room is the privilege of the streamer, only channel owner and moderators can access cat logs. You need to ask the streamer for your chat history on their channel. You can also contact Twitch support to use your user privacy right on Twitch
According to Twitch’s Privacy Policy, you can, as a Twitch user obtain the access to or a copy of certain personal data that Twitch holds about you. You can submit your request at this link
How to Download Your Twitch Chat History
If you don’t want to be bothered to manually browse the chat logs from the VODs, you can use the help of third-party software. It’s easy to download the chat history on your channel using software like Chatty and Chatterino
Chatty is one of the most popular software that streamers use to manage their chat. You can use Chatty to download and backup the Chat history on your Channel. It can also save the included emotes, badge, donation history during the stream in case you need it
Besides Chatty, you can use Chatterino to download the chat history on your channel. Both software has pros and cons, but most streamers use Chatty as their chat managing software
Conclusion
Chat logs are important data on your channel that need to be analyzed. By reviewing the data, it can help you as a streamer to moderate your chat room, improve your streaming skill, stimulate the growth of your channel and engage with your fans
You need to backup the chat logs by downloading them because Twitch will delete chat logs after 14 days for most streamer or 60 days for Twitch Partner, Turbo, and Prime User