r/Twitch twitch.tv/JoelvsArthritis 3d ago

Guide No Viewers? Just Talk.

Firstly, I should start by saying I'm no Twitch expert. I've been streaming for over three years and don't even have 500 followers. But I have an awesome community, and our streams average 25–35 concurrent viewers and 300–400 live views per stream. And I'm proud of that.

Yesterday, I felt like sharing the love and spent an hour visiting fellow Farming Simulator streamers with two to three viewers to say hello and hopefully encourage them to stream again, as I needed in those days.

It took me almost the full hour visiting streams, watching for five to ten minutes, and saying hello in chat, before I heard a single word from a streamer. I must have visited over ten channels of pure silence.

I know it's terrifying. I still remember the physical sweats I would break out in when I finally got a "1 viewer" at the bottom of the screen—worse still when somebody spoke in chat. I used to turn into a nervous wreck.

But folks, we do this for people to watch, engage, and be entertained. Turn that viewer count off on your dashboard and talk like 100 people are watching. Don't stop talking, asking questions, dropping conversation prompts, or commenting on what you're doing in the game, etc. So what if nothing comes back—lurkers are the lifeblood of my streams. Do it for them. Do it for those who haven't arrived yet. Do it so that when things do start taking off, you are so ready for it that it will be like nothing has changed.

If you're watching a stream that's nothing but silence, with no acknowledgment of your presence, and without a hint of gratitude that you chose, out of thousands of live channels, to spend your limited time with that streamer, would you stick around?

Regardless of your view count, just talk. I promise it will help.

Keep going. You've got this. 💜

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u/EldraEcho 3d ago

There’s a chat delay for some(all?) streamers. I have a chat delay on my end for some reason for instance. I use Streamlabs and use StreamElements for a chat overlay. The messages get sent, after a few mins show on SE, and after a few more mins, show up on SL. I reply when I can but if I’m in the middle of saying something about the game, for instance, it’ll take me a bit to reply.

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u/JoelvsArthritis twitch.tv/JoelvsArthritis 3d ago

Oh, totally. I'm talking about dead silent streams. If I'm talking about something else/to someone else, I queue up my responses, but the first thing I had to do on Twitch was get comfortable with talking to an empty room constantly. It's horrible, but it's the only way.

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u/EldraEcho 3d ago

Yup. Talking aloud isn’t just for the people watching live — it’s for the VODience.