Rising Creators Forum

This is super awkward but when i stream it's usually just me talking to myself with maybe 5-8 viewers and nobody says anything in chat for like 30 minutes at a time

I try to encourage chat interaction but people just lurk. Is this normal? how do you keep energy up when nobody is engaging?

Lurkers are normal but you can definitely increase chat activity with the right tactics

things that got my chat way more active:
- channel point predictions (built into twitch). "will i win this round? vote with channel points"
- polls during gameplay. "which weapon should i use next?"
- viewer games. "first person to type a specific emote wins channel points"
- react to everything someone says in chat immediately and enthusiastically. this encourages others to chat too
- ask specific questions instead of general ones. not "how's everyone doing?" but "pc or console for this game?"

Also check your chat settings. if you have follower-only mode on or require email verification, casual viewers can't chat and will just lurk

i changed from follower-only chat to open chat and my interaction rate went way up. yeah you get occasional spam but mods can handle that

Some streamers also do "viewer interaction" streams where the whole point is playing with chat. like viewer custom games, request streams, etc. this trains your audience to be more active

This is completely normal and honestly most of your viewers will always be lurkers

My average viewer count is 35 but i usually only have 3-5 people actively chatting. the rest are lurking while working, cooking, playing games themselves, etc

here's what helped me get comfortable with it:
- pretend you're making a youtube video. just talk about what you're doing, your thought process, tell stories
- ask rhetorical questions. don't wait for chat to answer, just answer yourself and keep going
- acknowledge lurkers without calling them out. say stuff like "to anyone just tuning in..." or "for those watching while working..."
- celebrate when someone does chat. make them feel valued so they're more likely to chat again

The worst thing you can do is sit in silence waiting for chat to say something. that makes lurkers uncomfortable and they'll leave

think of streaming as performing a one person show that happens to have an audience, not as having a conversation that requires participation