

Ask YC: Do you receive Google alerts on your company and industry? - andrewljohnson

Do you think this is a reasonable way to consume news? What tricks do you have for getting relevant alerts?
======
pg
I also recommend Backtype Alerts (<http://www.backtype.com/alerts>), which
tell you when something is mentioned in a comment.

------
ivankirigin
For Tipjoy, I use:

    
    
      - Twitter search in a client like TweetDeck - multi column is awesome
      - google alerts
      - backtype alerts

------
answerly
Google Alerts is super helpful for tracking mentions of your company on the
web. You should also check out search.twitter.com for mentions of your
site/brand on twitter.

I haven't been as successful with using Google Alerts for broader industry
news. There are too many false positives unless you are in a very niche
category.

~~~
jaxn
You know what would be cool is a Pandora style learning system for Google
Alerts. "Yeah, like that", "No, not that one", "Add variety", etc.

~~~
answerly
Thats a great idea.

~~~
gstar
Pressflip (<http://pressflip.com>) is basically that.

------
teej
I've seen the daily media feeds that several PR companies provide, from as
small as a 2-man shop to Ogilvy. They weren't any more useful than a few terms
thrown in Google alerts.

------
bbgm
Yes. And have been doing so for years. Not the only thing I track, but works
quite well. Of late, I also track particular terms on twitter, made easier if
you use Tweetdeck

------
shuleatt
We were using Google Alerts but have since changed to filtrbox

