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

Top 5 Real-Time Speech-to-Speech APIs and Libraries To Build Voice Agents

There are two ways to build conversational voice agents for enterprise and production use cases. Developers can use a real-time API or speech-to-speech (STS), that takes audio input from a user and sends it to a large language model (LLM) to return a voice output. Or they can use a turn-based architecture, which consists of

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13 min read

How Does WhatsApp Work? Architecture Deep Dive

If you’re in the US, chances are WhatsApp isn’t even installed on your phone. Although the Meta app surpassed 100 million monthly users in the US in 2024, WhatsApp remains a global phenomenon that has, until recently, largely bypassed the US. But if you live elsewhere in the world, WhatsApp is a fundamental part of

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7 min read

In-App Chat: Best Features, Use Cases & Implementation

In-app chat is precisely one of those features that becomes essential the moment your users expect it. You’ve seen it everywhere: the little chat bubble in your banking app, the messaging thread in your marketplace, the team channel in your project management tool. It’s how users talk to support without leaving your app, how buyers

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17 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