Stream Blog

Alpha Release: Activity Feeds v3

Apps use Stream's Activity Feeds API with hundreds to millions of users. Today, we're excited to share the third iteration of our Feeds API, Feeds v3, which builds on our scalability and expands our Activity Feeds API to include popular community features like for-you feeds, client-side SDKs, comments, activity expiration, and more—all while being 30%
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3 min read

The 8 Best Platforms To Build Voice AI Agents

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa are great for non-trivial everyday personal assistive tasks. However, they are limited in providing accurate answers to complex questions, real-time information, handling turns, and user interruptions. Get started! Activate your free Stream account today and start prototyping your own voice AI agent! Try asking Siri about the best things
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13 min

The 6 Best LLM Tools To Run Models Locally

Running large language models (LLMs) like DeepSeek Chat, ChatGPT, and Claude usually involves sending data to servers managed by DeepSeek, OpenAI, and other AI model providers. While these services are secure, some businesses prefer to keep their data offline for greater privacy. Get started! Activate your free Stream account today and start prototyping with the
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12 min

Using Stream to Build a Livestream Chat App in Next.js

I always wondered how to create the dynamic chat experience of livestreams, like those found on YouTube, but with an added convenience of allowing anyone to participate without logging in. Get started! Activate your free Stream account today and start prototyping livestream video. With Next.js and Stream, I was able to successfully create that experience.
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8 min

Conversational Commerce: Advantages, Use Cases & Examples

Conversational commerce gives product teams a useful framework to guide how they improve the buyer journey without overhauling a product's entire interface. Tactics like embedded chatbots and automated messaging reduce friction and contribute to higher conversion rates, especially at high-intent moments. This article will explore conversational commerce, how it works, its benefits and use cases,
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10 min read

Understanding AI Content Moderation: Types & How it Works

Moderating the vast amount of content on digital platforms is a challenge. People post content daily, making it tough to filter out harmful content. Users are at risk of encountering negative material with inadequate moderation, which can undermine the integrity of online platforms. The use of AI for moderation offers an efficient solution, ensuring safer
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11 min read

How to Reduce Social Media Harms: A Product Manager’s Guide

Teens spend hours on social media every day, but the content they see isn't always harmless. Beauty filters promote unrealistic standards, peer group pressures amplify anxiety, and viral trends like the Blackout Challenge have led to hospitalizations and even deaths. Heavy screen time has been linked to sleep deprivation, low self-esteem, and disordered eating, which
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8 min read

How to Create a Content Moderation Policy That Works

In 2024, Facebook deleted 5.8 million posts because of hate speech infractions. This is only one platform and a single violation type. Every day, platforms and applications designed for user-generated content (UGC) get numerous uploads of text, audio, images, and video posts. The majority is benign and aligns with corporate policies, but some may be
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13 min read

Firebase Alternative: Building Chat With Firebase vs. Stream

We have recently noticed an influx of individuals searching for alternatives to building chat messaging applications on Firebase. It's important to note that Firebase is a multi-use tool for developers to build just about anything quickly, but does not take into account the cost when an application starts to scale in terms of users. In
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5 min read

Content Moderation: Types, Tools & Best Practices

User engagement is the key to building a thriving social community, and the key to a successful business is loyal, active customers—no matter your use case. But this reward comes with risk. While user-generated content (UGC) can be empowering, persuasive, and insightful, it can also be off-topic, spammy, hateful, harmful, or even criminal. By moderating
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10 min read

Ably Alternatives – Comparing the Top 9 Competitors

If you're evaluating Ably's chat product for your app, you're likely looking for a reliable way to deliver real-time conversations with low latency and high uptime. Ably's infrastructure-first approach offers developers the tools to build custom chat experiences from the ground up, backed by a globally distributed network. But Ably isn't the only option. Depending
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15 min read

Build vs. Buy Moderation: The Ultimate Decision Guide for Trust & Safety

Content moderation is the invisible infrastructure of the web. Every message sent, image uploaded, livestream broadcast, and marketplace listing posted passes through moderation systems that determine whether it reaches its intended audience. Get it right, and your platform becomes a thriving community where users feel safe to connect, transact, and create. Get it wrong, and
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13 min read