SaaS and technology writer with a knack for turning technical topics into clear, practical insights. He writes about website monitoring, performance, infrastructure, APIs, and the everyday challenges of keeping modern web services reliable.

Marco Riva

World Clap Day: Building a 30K-User Global Community | Watcher

How the Watchers social solution performed during the World Cup 2026: The results and main insights

BetBoom Case: Community chat with interactive tools and embedded live streaming 

Watchers and VirtualSoft: Community chats to engage users during sports events

FC App: Social layer to engage football fans

Livey: Community chats for pay-per-view live streaming platform

Sports Industry & Technology Trends 2026

SDK vs. WebView: Integrating In-App Chat, Streaming, and Widgets

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World Cup Fan Engagement: Watchers Client Insights

Watchers for Impact | Pro bono initiative allowing companies and projects to get free community-building tools 

How embeddable social layers work: SDK vs. WebView/iframe integration, real-time chat, moderation, compliance, and build-vs-buy trade-offs for product teams.

<p>An embeddable social layer gives digital products real-time chat conversations, in-app live streaming, engagement widgets, and automated moderation without building them internally alongside with user loyalty growth and first-party data ownership. Providers generally offer two ways of integration: an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/glossary/sdk">SDK</a> which compiles directly into the app and gives deep access to native UI and device capabilities; or a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/glossary/webview">WebView</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/glossary/iframe">iframe</a>, a hosted, branded surface that loads inside an existing mobile or web product with less engineering work.</p><p>Watchers uses the WebView/iframe model—product teams on the clients’ sides get interactive tools that look native to the product either way, keeping first-party ownership of user data, while not spending too many development resources. To evaluate providers and choose the best way for the integration, you need to weigh integration speed and depth of native control against load performance, styling flexibility, and compliance controls.</p><h2>Architecture: SDK or WebView?</h2><p>Whether providers use an SDK or a WebView/iframe, the social layer sits alongside the client’s core backend. Because of this, clients hold full ownership of user identity, business logic, billing, and databases, while the social layer handles presentation and real-time communication: chat, presence, live video, and the interactive widgets. An SDK gives the client’s app more direct control over rendering and native device features. A WebView forwards some of the control for a lower-maintenance integration, since the provider updates the UI on their own surface.</p><p>For example, Watchers runs its backend on Google Cloud Platform across five regional deployments — Europe (Frankfurt, default), North America (Los Angeles), Asia (Hong Kong), South America (Santiago), and Africa (Johannesburg), with WebSocket connections routed to the endpoint matching a project's assigned region (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.watchers.io/docs/supported-regions">supported regions</a>). Providers with real multi-region infrastructure are generally better positioned to keep latency low for a globally distributed audience. Thus, Watchers commits to 99.9% monthly uptime in production, with service credits if that's missed (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/legal/sla">SLA</a>).</p><p>The host backend authenticates the user as it already does, then issues a signed token passed to the client: an SDK method call or a WebView/iframe load parameter, depending on the integration. The client uses that token or key to connect to the correct endpoint and load the correct channels for that user. Because the embedded layer is a contained component either way, high-traffic social activity — chat bursts, reactions, live polling—stays isolated from the host's transactional systems, without adding load to its primary databases or app servers.</p><h2>How to separate social activity traffic from core systems</h2><p>Because real-time interactive chatting is held inside the embedded surface, it doesn’t intersect the primary application database. Core app systems are staying busy handling main data and storage. The social layer handles the social traffic: typing indicators, reactions, replies, messages, and all of it is held inside its own infrastructure.</p><p>When something inside the social layer needs to reach host systems, providers usually send webhooks to endpoints the host controls or use <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/glossary/api">API</a> calls. The clients’ teams don't need to query the provider's systems directly for routine events; webhooks and REST endpoints handle that.</p><h2>Real-time community chat—WebView approach</h2><p>Messages appear instantly for connected users. Chat providers usually manage the connection lifecycle on the host's side: reconnecting automatically after a failed connection, and falling back on restrictive networks to keep chat working in any case.</p><p>Presence, typing indicators, read receipts, and unread counts stay in sync as users move between conversations. Custom elements like colours, typography, spacing, stickers, icons, and more are usually set up to make an embedded chat a native part of the client’s platform.</p><h2>Live streaming as a part of a social layer</h2><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/live-streaming">Live streaming</a> can be paired with synchronised messaging and reactions inside the same embedded layer. So, commentary lines up with what's happening on screen. Reaction counters, polls, and chat messages stay tied to the active moment in the stream, and viewers get the same experience as they have on Twitch or other specific live streaming platforms. Because the video player for live streaming and chat are delivered through the same surface, there's no separate integration work needed to keep them in sync.</p><h2>Interactive engagement widgets</h2><p>Polls, reactions, marketing instruments, and other engagement instruments, being in the community layer, can adjust a live broadcast, article, catalogue page, or any digital platform. When a user votes or reacts, the result updates for everyone watching within moments, without leaving the host app.</p><p>Clients can manage engagement content through an admin panel, with results syncing back to host systems via <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/glossary/webhook">webhooks</a>, or just use the APIs for automatic publishing. These engagement metrics can supplement loyalty programmes, CRM records, or analytics without additional engineering work.</p><h2>Automated moderation as a necessary part of the social layer</h2><p>Text and image messages alongside usernames are usually checked at many levels. Initially, they are screened against blocklists and abuse patterns before being sent in a chat. Then, they are checked by AI models before being visible to other users. If an AI model finds an abusive pattern, a message stays invisible and is also highlighted for additional checks on a moderation dashboard. Also, there can be borderline cases that human operators can review through context and user history and offer a moderation decision: mute, ban, or deletion, with changes reflected for all connected users right away.</p><p>Also, some social layer providers have additional user tools that allow audience control communication on their side: for instance, users can shadow others just for their own personal space. This instrument doesn’t affect the shadowed users, but allows them not to interact in a chat if one of them doesn’t feel comfortable.</p><h2>First-party data and user patterns</h2><p>One of the important reasons to host conversations and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/post/what-is-community-engagement">engagement</a> inside the platform is an opportunity to keep ownership of the resulting first-party data. Engagement events, like clicks, poll results, conversation topics with all messages presented in the categories, sentiment patterns- all of it streams out through webhooks and export pipelines into the host's own data warehouse, rather than staying locked inside a third-party network the host doesn't control.</p><p>This data is valuable to any company that aims to understand their audience segmentation, product-intent signals, and how customers perceive the journey.</p><h2>Visual customisation: SDK vs. WebView/iframe</h2><p>Because these layers typically integrate as a WebView or iframe rather than a native SDK with exposed UI components, customisation works differently than in a component-library model. Host teams don't get pixel-level control over every element the way they would when authoring their own interface from a headless SDK; instead, they configure a set of brand parameters (colours, typography, spacing, iconography, logo placement) that the provider applies to the hosted surface.<br>Thus, some customisation depth can be sacrificed for the sake of integration speed: there's no frontend engineering required to build chat UI, reaction trays, or participant lists from scratch, since the embed ships fully built. Teams with very specific design-system requirements should confirm with a given provider what's configurable versus fixed before committing, since a WebView or iframe's styling surface is narrower than a component-level integration. At the same time, WebView now allows deep customisation of the social layer, and all needed changes go directly to the social layer with no additional work on the host side. So, for many digital platforms, WebView integration can be a win-win choice.</p><h2>In-chat authorisation</h2><p>The host's existing authorisation system stays the principal one: when a user opens a social layer, the host backend issues a short-lived signed token containing their permissions. Users don’t need to authorise separately to socialise or create a separate in-chat account.<br>Session disconnect on logout and forced session revocation are managed so conversations don't drop in the middle when a token expires. Guest or anonymous viewing through read-only mode can also be supported; host platforms can also integrate a paywall to stimulate users to subscribe before sending messages.</p><h2>Handling scale and latency during traffic spikes</h2><p>During major events, like a live match, breaking news, or an event, an embedded social layer needs to keep working with thousands of users connected at once and message volume spikes sharply. That scaling work generally happens on the provider's side, not in the host app; from the host app's perspective, the embed is a single surface regardless of how many concurrent viewers it's serving.</p><p>At high message rates, providers can sample the visible feed instead of rendering every message, since a feed scrolling faster than anyone can read isn't useful to the audience or conversation participants. Specific concurrency limits or latency guarantees should be confirmed directly by a provider, because they can depend on the scope of functionality you use. For high spikes, WebView can be a better-fitting solution, because, as we mentioned earlier, high volume of in-chat messages doesn’t affect the host app's ability to work.</p><h2>Gamification and rewards</h2><p>Badges and leaderboards can be enabled inside an embedded social layer to encourage repeat participation and target actions, as well as increase general user activity and engagement. Users earn recognition for discussion, streaks, chat visits, number of messages, reactions, shared widgets. These can connect to an existing loyalty programme through webhooks, so a milestone inside the chat can trigger a real reward issued by the host backend.</p><h2>Semantic analysis and sentiment tracking</h2><p>User conversations can be analysed for sentiment and trending topics, giving editorial or event teams a live read on how an audience is reacting—it is useful during launches, broadcasts, or breaking coverage, or just to stay in touch with user needs. Rising keywords and topic clusters can surface unmet audience needs or common questions without manual surveys.</p><p>When messages contain commercial intent or technical issues, they can be flagged for follow-up by relevant teams. Also, AI bots can take such messages and forward them automatically to the appropriate support department or handle them if the requests are simple.</p><h2>Compliance and regulators</h2><p>Providers of social tools always have to control data residency options or deletion/export endpoints in accordance with GDPR or any other relevant regulations.</p><p>Certifications and alignments, like SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR/CCPA/LGPD/PIPEDA, vary by provider and should be checked against the provider's own trust centre rather than assumed. For example, Watchers' Trust Centre lists GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and PIPEDA alignment alongside ISO 27001 (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/trust-center">Watchers Trust Center</a>).</p><h2>Build vs. buy</h2><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>In-house</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>6–12 months</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Build every UI element and interaction loop</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Build custom filters and admin tools</span></div></td></tr><tr><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Generic real-time PaaS</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>3–6 months</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Construct visual components from APIs</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Integrate third-party tools; build admin UI</span></div></td></tr><tr><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>SDK provider</span></div></td><td>Weeks</td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Build native UI using SDK toolkits</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Built-in moderation console</span></div></td></tr><tr><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>WebView/iframe provider</span></div></td><td>Days</td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Configure brand parameters on a hosted surface</span></div></td><td><div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-top:0.5em;text-align:left;"><span>Built-in moderation console&nbsp;</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p>Building real-time chat, moderation, and gamification in-house is typically a multi-quarter engineering commitment with ongoing 24/7 maintenance. A WebView or iframe integration can compress that to days of implementation work—pass a token, load the embed, configure branding—at the cost of some of the deep customisation a fully custom build or a component-level SDK would give.<br><br><br>The trade-off to be explicit about: WebView/iframe integrations get to production fastest but give the least native UI control; native SDKs cost more integration time but allow deeper customisation and device-level access. Either is faster than building from scratch, and the right choice depends on how much the product's differentiation depends on a highly custom interaction UI versus getting to market quickly.</p><h2>Frequently asked questions</h2><h3>How quickly can a team embed this into an existing application?</h3><p>That depends on the integration path. A WebView or iframe is generally fastest: issue a token or key from the backend, load the embed, apply brand styling—typically days of work. A native SDK integration takes longer, usually weeks, since it involves building UI with the SDK's native components rather than loading a pre-built surface. Both are faster than building comparable features from scratch.</p><h3>What measurable business outcomes should we expect?&nbsp;</h3><p>Measured on users who adopted social features, 6–12 months after launch: a 50–100% increase in session length, an 8–20% lift in monthly retention, and a 7–15% increase in ARPU. Source: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/growth">Watchers Results page</a><br>However, the results depend on many factors: your industry domains, the goals your user persue while communication in your platform, and many more. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://calendly.com/watchers-platform/social-tools-for-your">Connect with us</a> to learn more about specifics you should consider while building internal communities.</p><h3>How does moderation work?</h3><p>Multiple layers, including filters, ML models, user tools, and the admin dashboard, work together to catch abusive content automatically and route borderline cases for review. There is a Ban API and additional tools that can help clients to control and automate moderation tracking even more.</p><h3>Does using a WebView mean we lose ownership of our interaction data?</h3><p>No, engagement data (clicks, poll responses, conversation topics) streams out via webhooks and export pipelines into your own data warehouse. You're not limited to whatever analytics Watchers exposes natively.</p>

Collecting user insights is vital for providing a personalised user experience. Gathering information directly from your target audience will help improve the user journey and content strategy.

Learn how to collect first-party data with the right tools and why it matters.

First-Party Data: How to Operate With and Why Is It Crucial for Business

<div style="font-size:14px;line-height:1;" id="toc"><p>Continuous development, driven by customer feedback, is a crucial component of any successful business strategy. But when it comes to identifying these insights, where do you turn? The easy answer is providing cusdev interviews, constant focus groups, or just voluntary surveys or interactions, but there is a tricky point.</p><p>Firstly, people participating in such research can be, on the one hand, not sincere enough — trying to be polite or not to look critical; on the other hand, they try to be helpful and notice all potential problems and mistakes, while at the same time losing their real user impression. They can help to find some platform’s inconveniences, but being in an artificial situation, they can skip what is really important. Also, participants of any focus group or custdev present just a tiny part of your audience. But where to get insights from real users in satisfactory amounts?</p><p>Continuous improvement based on user feedback is key to a strong business strategy. But when it comes to understanding user needs, where should you look?</p><figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:2410/1378;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/6a57aca0-b2be-49b1-b5cd-6960f8d1311d.webp" width="2410" height="1378" alt="how to encrease user engagement: best practices"></figure><p>Obvious solutions include customer development interviews, focus groups, or voluntary surveys. Yet, these methods come with challenges. Participants might not be entirely candid, may overanalyse, or simply represent too small a portion of your audience. While these can uncover usability issues, they often miss the subtle behaviours that matter most. So, where do you get scalable, authentic insights from your actual users?</p><p>One of today’s strongest approaches involves deriving real-time insights directly through your platform interactions. As digital marketing moves toward deeper audience understanding and AI-powered analysis, accessing meaningful audience signals is more critical than ever. But how do you translate engagement into strategic insight? And what tools make it easier?</p><p>Focusing on users’ direct insights is one of the current digital marketing trends you can’t ignore, especially as the world heightens its focus on AI and datafication. However, many companies struggle to understand how to collect and utilise this information effectively. For example, why would you pick user insights over third-party data when the latter often comes cheaper? And what tools can you add to your platform to gather such primary insights?</p><h2 id="go-through-numbers"><strong>Going Through the Numbers</strong></h2><p>Brands can obtain data from various sources. The most accurate information is acquired directly and consensually from the customer through surveys, questionnaires, reviews, social media engagement, and website interactions.</p><p>Then you have second-party insights, which is very similar, except you’re using another company’s trusted first-party data. You interact with the company directly to obtain this information.</p><p>Third-party data is different still. This is information typically purchased through an external data aggregator that has no direct contact with the customers. Third-party cookies, tracking details like browser history and time spent online, were once common in search engines, although companies like Apple and Google are already beginning to phase them out.</p><figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><a href="#go-through-numbers"><img style="aspect-ratio:1080/1080;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/c5d17a88-0299-418d-b5bc-b1f46e8cb28e.png" width="1080" height="1080" alt="semnatic analysis of ugc content is the key to first party data"></a></figure><p>And lastly, zero-party data is a relatively new data type that is almost identical to first-party. This involves information voluntarily and explicitly given by the customer, such as purchase intentions and communication preferences.</p><h2 id="why-direct-user-insights-matter">Why Direct User Insights Matter</h2><p>Data benefits your business by providing reliable information collected directly from your target audience. That’s invaluable in a world where <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2024/04/14/the-personalized-customer-experience-customers-want-you-to-know-them/">81% of consumers prefer </a>a tailored experience.<br>Brands must adapt their digital marketing strategies to offer more personalisation for their customers. From budgetary figures alone, we can see this trend taking shape. In 2023, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://admin.comviva.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Global-Survey-Report-The-Business-Value-of-Real-Time-Personalization-1.pdf">around 22% of a digital marketing budget</a> was allocated to personalisation. In 2024, that figure jumped to 40%. This highlights the significant importance of personalisation for both consumers and marketers.</p><p>Direct users’ insights give you a deeper understanding of customer preferences and habits. You can identify which channels they prefer to interact with and learn about their browsing and purchasing behaviour in real time, what exact content they like and why. These insights then allow you to refine your marketing and content strategy to include personalised outreach and targeted ad campaigns, creating a more tailored approach and correcting the roadmap. And a more personalised approach brings additional benefits, such as brand loyalty and user engagement.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367128795_The_Impact_of_Personalization_on_Customer_Loyalty_and_Retention">In his recent publication,</a> “The Impact of Personalization on Customer Loyalty and Retention,” Shezan Ahmed notes that “customers are more likely to make additional purchases and remain loyal to a business that personalizes their experiences.”<br>Meanwhile, user engagement through first-party data is another benefit of increased personalisation. Customers are more likely to engage with your platform when you know exactly what they wish.</p><p>By contrast, third-party data offers limited scope for personalisation. It does not come directly from your target audience, which means it provides little insight into the genuine wants and needs of your customers. This is why gathering first-party data is crucial.</p><h2 id="making-the-most-from-first-party-data">Making the Most of User Insights</h2><p>All sorts of companies can benefit from gathering first-party data. For example, sports apps, due to such insights, establish and sustain a likeable brand reputation — an important metric for clubs looking to cater to a diverse customer network.</p><p>Another example? Fitness apps that use live streaming feeds for at-home personal training (like Peloton) can adjust staff schedules to accommodate busier times, thanks to insights on when users like to train and what kind of instructor they prefer.</p><p>It’s evident that all of this is vital for companies in the entertainment industry. However, obtaining user insights can be difficult without adequate channels for user engagement.</p><p>Collecting user insights helps companies identify the following user metrics:<br>· Engagement levels<br>· Busiest traffic times<br>· Preferred communication channels<br>· Most popular film and TV genres<br>· Favourite sports to watch and bet on<br>· Overall opinions</p><p>Entertainment businesses can then use these metrics to refine their offerings and enhance user engagement through the use of first-party data.</p><blockquote><p>User engagement is crucial for sports betting companies like Sky Bet and Paddy Power, where competition is fierce. If a sports betting app learns that its customers prefer to bet on tennis but have little interest in badminton, the site can then look to increase its coverage of tennis games (if it offers live streaming features) or broaden its betting markets for the most popular tournaments (like Wimbledon and the US Open). This data-driven marketing will likely increase customer retention and brand loyalty.</p></blockquote><h2 id="five-ways-to-collect-user-insights">How to Collect User Insights in Five Ways</h2><p>Implement a range of user insights collection strategies to gather a broad and varied scope of information from your customers.</p><h3>Use AI for Insights Collection and Tagging</h3><p>AI tools are on the rise. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/superagency-in-the-workplace-empowering-people-to-unlock-ais-full-potential-at-work">More than 92%</a> of businesses are looking to increase their AI spending over the next three years. Fortunately, AI and analytics combine well.<br>You can use AI tools to gather vast troves of data, including customer purchase history and frequency of communication, at once. Automated algorithms track these metrics and record each time a customer interacts with your brand. They then collate this first-party data to build a profile of every customer, allowing you to personalise the experience for each user.</p><blockquote><p>Tools like Bardeen use natural language to implement workflows that can scrape and enrich data in bulk. Other apps, such as Databricks, facilitate data analysis by learning your analysis habits and preferences.</p></blockquote><p>But you’ll need somewhere to store the masses of data you collect from AI tools. That’s where data lakes come in. An alternative to the rigid structures of data warehouses, data lakes are more fluid and flexible. They can house large amounts of data and allow analysts to compare and extract insights more easily.</p><h3>Send Out Surveys &amp; Questionnaires</h3><p>Of course, there are other manual methods of collecting first-party data. Surveys and questionnaires are classic examples of obtaining primary data right from the source. You can learn lots from your customers if they complete the form, helping you identify what aspects of your site are under and what are overperforming. Incentivise your users to complete the survey by offering a reward, such as a discount or a free in-app item.</p><h3>Integrate community in-app chats</h3><p>Chat rooms provide a unique setting for data collection. They allow app users to engage with your brand directly, offering unfiltered views on your services and voluntarily divulging preferences. Plus, the time stamps from each message tell you the busiest communication times.</p><h3>Add Comment Sections</h3><p>Similar to live chat rooms, companies can retrieve valuable information from comment sections. For example, a broadcaster could learn when users are most active via the number of comments over a given period. This would then allow them to show targeted ads at the most advantageous times.</p><h3>Second Screens</h3><p>Use the stunning experience of La Liga and use second screens<br>to offer a space where users can engage with others without leaving your platform. Instead of losing valuable data to messaging sites like X and WhatsApp, you can gain insights into customer behaviour by recording the interactions on your integrated second screen.</p><hr><p><br>You’ve learned how to collect first-party data and why this process is crucial for your business. This is not one of those digital marketing trends that will fade quickly. Start implementing it in your customer success strategies now.</p><hr><p><strong>Please fill out the </strong><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://calendly.com/watchers-platform/social-tools-for-your?month=2025-08"><strong>Get in Touch form</strong></a><strong> if you'd like to integrate community chats and other tools for gathering user insights into your website or app. We'll be happy to help you find the best solution.</strong></p></div>