News Monitor Skill

Overview

I help you set up effective news monitoring strategies, analyze media coverage, and synthesize news into actionable intelligence. I can help with brand monitoring, industry tracking, and competitive intelligence.

What I can do:

Design news monitoring strategies
Recommend monitoring tools and RSS feeds
Create news digest templates
Analyze media coverage patterns
Synthesize news into briefings
Set up alert configurations

What I cannot do:

Access real-time news feeds
Execute actual monitoring
Provide breaking news
Access paywalled news sources

How to Use Me

Step 1: Define Monitoring Objectives

Tell me what you want to track:

Company/brand mentions
Industry news
Competitor activity
Specific topics or keywords
Executive/person mentions
Regulatory/policy changes

Step 2: Set Parameters

Specify:

Geographic scope
Language preferences
Source types (news, social, blogs)
Frequency (real-time, daily, weekly)
Alert thresholds

Step 3: Choose Output

Monitoring strategy document
Alert configuration guide
News digest template
Media analysis framework

Monitoring Strategy Framework

1. Keyword Strategy

Primary Keywords

Brand/Company: "Company Name", CompanyName, @CompanyHandle
Products: "Product Name", product-name
Executives: "CEO Name", "CTO Name"

Boolean Combinations

Simple: "Company Name" OR "Product Name"
Filtered: "Company Name" AND (launch OR announcement OR partnership)
Exclusion: "Company Name" NOT jobs NOT careers

Competitor Monitoring

"Competitor A" OR "Competitor B" AND (funding OR acquisition OR launch)

2. Source Strategy

Source Type	Examples	Best For
Newswires	Reuters, AP, AFP	Breaking news
Business	Bloomberg, FT, WSJ	Financial/corporate
Tech	TechCrunch, Verge, Wired	Technology
Industry	Trade publications	Sector-specific
Social	Twitter, LinkedIn	Real-time sentiment
Blogs	Medium, Substack	Thought leadership
Forums	Reddit, HN	Community sentiment

3. Tool Recommendations

Tool	Type	Best For	Cost
Google Alerts	Basic monitoring	Simple tracking	Free
Feedly	RSS aggregation	News aggregation	Freemium
Mention	Social + web	Brand monitoring	Paid
Meltwater	Enterprise	Comprehensive	Enterprise
Brandwatch	Social listening	Social analysis	Enterprise
NewsAPI	API access	Custom builds	Freemium
Flipboard	Curation	Personal digest	Free

News Digest Template

# [Company/Topic] News Digest

**Period**: [Date range]
**Prepared by**: [Name/Team]
**Distribution**: [Internal/External]

---

## Headlines Summary

### Top Stories This Period
1. **[Headline 1]** - [Source], [Date]
   - Key point: [Summary]
   - Impact: [High/Medium/Low]
   
2. **[Headline 2]** - [Source], [Date]
   - Key point: [Summary]
   - Impact: [High/Medium/Low]

3. **[Headline 3]** - [Source], [Date]
   - Key point: [Summary]
   - Impact: [High/Medium/Low]

---

## Coverage by Category

### Company News
| Date | Headline | Source | Sentiment |
|------|----------|--------|-----------|
| | | | Positive/Neutral/Negative |

### Industry News
| Date | Headline | Source | Relevance |
|------|----------|--------|-----------|
| | | | High/Medium/Low |

### Competitor News
| Date | Headline | Source | Competitor |
|------|----------|--------|------------|
| | | | |

---

## Sentiment Analysis

| Category | Positive | Neutral | Negative | Total |
|----------|----------|---------|----------|-------|
| Company | | | | |
| Products | | | | |
| Executives | | | | |

**Overall Sentiment Trend**: [Improving/Stable/Declining]

---

## Key Themes

### Theme 1: [Name]
[Description and relevant articles]

### Theme 2: [Name]
[Description and relevant articles]

---

## Action Items

1. [ ] [Action based on coverage]
2. [ ] [Action based on coverage]
3. [ ] [Action based on coverage]

---

## Upcoming Events to Watch

| Date | Event | Potential Impact |
|------|-------|-----------------|
| | | |

---

## Sources Monitored

- [List of sources]

---

*Next digest: [Date]*

Media Analysis Framework

Coverage Metrics

Metric	Description	Calculation
Volume	Number of mentions	Count of articles
Reach	Potential audience	Sum of publication reach
Share of Voice	Your mentions vs competitors	Your mentions / Total market mentions
Sentiment	Tone of coverage	Positive:Neutral:Negative ratio
Message Pull-Through	Key message presence	% of articles with key messages

Sentiment Classification

Sentiment	Indicators
Positive	Praise, success, growth, innovation
Neutral	Factual reporting, announcements
Negative	Criticism, problems, failures, concerns

Source Authority Tiers

Tier	Examples	Weight
Tier 1	WSJ, NYT, Reuters, FT	10x
Tier 2	Industry leaders, major outlets	5x
Tier 3	Regional, specialized	2x
Tier 4	Blogs, small outlets	1x

Alert Configuration Guide

Google Alerts Setup

1. Go to google.com/alerts
2. Enter search query:
   "Your Company" OR "Your Product"
3. Show options:
   - How often: As-it-happens / Daily / Weekly
   - Sources: Automatic / News / Blogs / Web
   - Language: [Select]
   - Region: [Select]
   - How many: All results / Best results
4. Create alert

Recommended Alert Categories

Category	Query Example	Frequency
Brand mentions	"Company Name"	As-it-happens
Product mentions	"Product Name"	Daily
Executive mentions	"CEO Name"	Weekly
Competitor news	"Competitor" AND launch	Daily
Industry trends	[industry] AND "trends 2025"	Weekly
Negative monitoring	"Company Name" AND (problem OR issue OR complaint)	As-it-happens

Output Format: Monitoring Strategy

# News Monitoring Strategy: [Topic/Brand]

**Prepared**: [Date]
**Review Cycle**: [Quarterly]

---

## Monitoring Objectives

1. [Objective 1]
2. [Objective 2]
3. [Objective 3]

---

## Keyword Strategy

### Primary Keywords

[keyword 1] [keyword 2] "[exact phrase]"


### Boolean Queries

**Brand Monitoring**:

"Company Name" OR "Product Name" OR @handle


**Competitor Tracking**:

("Competitor A" OR "Competitor B") AND (funding OR launch OR partnership)


**Industry News**:

[industry] AND (trends OR innovation OR market)


### Exclusion Terms

NOT (jobs OR careers OR hiring)


---

## Source Matrix

| Category | Sources | Priority |
|----------|---------|----------|
| Tier 1 News | [List] | High |
| Industry | [List] | High |
| Tech | [List] | Medium |
| Social | [List] | Medium |
| Blogs | [List] | Low |

---

## Tool Configuration

### Primary Tool: [Tool Name]
- Setup instructions
- Query configuration
- Alert settings

### Secondary Tools
- [Tool 2]: [Purpose]
- [Tool 3]: [Purpose]

---

## Workflow

### Daily
1. Review real-time alerts
2. Triage by priority
3. Flag for action

### Weekly
1. Compile digest
2. Analyze trends
3. Share with stakeholders

### Monthly
1. Full analysis report
2. Strategy review
3. Keyword refinement

---

## Distribution

| Stakeholder | Content | Frequency |
|-------------|---------|-----------|
| Executives | Summary | Weekly |
| PR Team | Full digest | Daily |
| Marketing | Competitor intel | Weekly |
| Sales | Battle card updates | As needed |

---

## Success Metrics

1. Coverage volume vs baseline
2. Share of voice vs competitors
3. Sentiment ratio improvement
4. Response time to mentions

Tips for Better Results

Be specific about what you want to monitor
Prioritize sources based on relevance
Use Boolean operators to reduce noise
Set appropriate frequency - not everything needs real-time
Review and refine keywords regularly
Establish escalation criteria for urgent mentions

Limitations

Cannot execute actual monitoring
Cannot access real-time news
Cannot access paywalled sources
Cannot provide breaking news
Strategy needs manual implementation

Built by the Claude Office Skills community. Contributions welcome!

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