A little tweak like this has been a long time coming, but Twitch creators will finally be able to pin messages in their stream chat. This feature allows streamers and moderators to temporarily pin certain chat messages to the top of the chat box to protect them from the conversation flow. If you’re wondering how exactly this new feature works, look no further.
Pinning and unpinning Twitch chat messages
Pinning is a simple task on Twitch, as shown when the feature was announced. When you hover over a message, you’ll usually be given the option to reply directly to it. However, with the new update, a new “Pin” button appears next to the “Reply” icon. A streamer or moderator just clicks “Pin” and the message will have its own dedicated box right at the top of the chat for all to see. Viewers can click on the box to expand or collapse.
To unpin a message, simply click the “Pin” button on the original message again, or possibly click the “Options” button with three dots in the pinned text field and send it from there.
Who can pin messages in Twitch chat?
The pinning feature will begin rolling out to select accounts in September 2022, so not everyone will have access initially. For those who get the update, it appears that only streamers and moderators will be able to pin and unpin messages.
Why pin Twitch chat messages?
Twitch was non-specific about why it expects creators to pin messages, simply saying it wants to “really learn more about the use cases” when the feature rolls out, but there are various benefits. If a viewer has offered some particularly helpful advice or made a great joke, you might want to show it off in the chat. On the other hand, if there’s a message the creator wants to convey, such as chat rules or a link to a donation link for a charity stream, pinning those messages will ensure fans see them.
Twitch showed off the new chat feature during its latest Patch Notes episode this week, with content creators soon able to pin chat messages to the top of the chat box. Through this feature, streamers can pin their own messages or messages from others in the community to their chat windows, so messages remain for others to see after they would normally be lost in the chat scroll. It’s a previously rumored feature, but we now have a better idea of how it will work.
And since all it really does is pin a message to the chat box, it’s not hard to imagine how it works. The clip below from the Patch Notes episode shows the pinned chat feature in action where someone took a message from their chat and selected the new “Pin Message” button that will exist next to the “Reply” option. Once a message was pinned by a moderator, it remained at the top of the chat window for a limited time, and viewers could then expand or collapse it.
Why would anyone want to pin a chat message to a window for people to see? Twitch says it’s looking forward to the answers to that question, as this first implementation of the pinned chat feature will be an experiment. It’s a test that will start running in September for select channels, and Twitch product manager Emilio Cuartero says “the possibilities are endless.”
“This new chat experiment will be launched on some channels starting this September,” Cuartero said. “We’re going to use this time to really learn more about the use cases that you mentioned. You know, the possibilities are endless, and we want to figure out how to continue to iterate on these features to best meet the needs that people have for this tool they have.”
During this experiment, those doing the pinning will only be able to do so in the browser version of Twitch, but pinned messages will be visible both there and in the mobile app.
Twitch’s new chat feature will begin rolling out to select channels in September, so look for pinned messages to start appearing in streams depending on which one you use a lot.
Twitch Announces Special Sub Event for September
As one of the best streaming platforms on the internet, Twitch is no stranger to various promotions that bring viewers to its platform. The Amazon-owned platform provides Amazon Prime members with a free monthly subscription to one channel of their choice, as well as a range of free Prime games and exclusive in-game content. Twitch also often offers discounted subscription rates to streamers, encouraging more fans to support their favorite content creators. Now Twitch has announced its latest sub-promotion with SUBtember running next month.
Twitch has officially revealed a new event with Twitch members who will see subscription discounts throughout the month of September, with this year’s trip sponsored by the Lenovo Legion. Twitch members will be able to subscribe to their favorite creators for 20% off a one-month subscription, with longer subscriptions at increased discounts. Three-month subscribers will see a 25% reduction during the month, and six-month subscribers will see a 30% price reduction from September 1st.
Subscription discounts are not just for new subscriptions, where users can upgrade their previous subscriptions and more. Twitch has confirmed that the discounts will apply to users who want to upgrade from their free Amazon Prime subscriptions, as well as users who want to gift subscriptions to friends or others in chat. The promotional price reduction will also apply to users who wish to upgrade to a Tier 2 or Tier 3 subscription to the channels. Twitch also confirmed that streamers will still be paid the full subscription price, even with a discount.
Twitch’s latest promotion wouldn’t be the first time the streaming platform has held a similar monthly event. Twitch has held its SUBtember festivities annually, bringing in discounted Twitch subscription rates every September since the program launched in 2017. The promotion comes as “sub-a-thons” on Twitch have grown as a popular trend among content creators in recent years. , with the streams gaining thousands of new subscribers on a regular basis.
Twitch’s latest sub-theme promotion comes as the platform recently made significant changes to bring in more creators. The platform made waves earlier this week when Twitch ended its longtime partner exclusivity and allowed Twitch partners to stream on other sites like YouTube and Facebook Gaming. Twitch also recently introduced quality-of-life features for creators, such as the ability to share banlists and lowering their payout limits. SUBtember will look like another popular promotion for Twitch, giving fans a chance to support their favorite talents at a bargain price.