Newsdesk 4: Social Media monitoring made easy
Jinfo Blog

By Penny Crossland

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The November edition of VIP Magazine (Number 84) includes a product review of Newsdesk 4, the recently launched SaaS current awareness tool developed by Moreover Technologies Inc. The real-time news and social media portal is a completely revamped version of the original Newsdesk aggregator and provides live links to an impressive collection of sources. Newsdesk 4 uses new technology, a faster search engine and incorporates several new features such as increased faceted search capabilities and more filters to refine searches.

Around 800,000 news articles and 1.5 million social media posts are indexed on a daily basis. News is aggregated from sources such as global media sites, business magazines, international organisations and consumer magazines. Social media coverage is particularly impressive - it includes photo and video sharing sites, podcasts, wikis and consumer review sites. In all, around 40,000 online news sources are monitored, 11,000 of which are from non-English sources. Customers are able to search for news in 47 different languages.

The Newsdesk 4 sources are divided into industry categories and sub-categories, with searchers able to filter by regions, languages and media type. As you would expect of a current awareness tool, Newsdesk 4 makes it easy to share and manage news via email alerts and customised newsletters. The newsletter feature even allows compilers to include their company logos and house styles, making this an attractive feature for corporate intranets.

The product's real strength, however, lies in its near real-time access to news: sources are updated every 15 to 20 minutes, which means that users are able to keep on top of and share stories as they develop. Links to stories are only kept for one month, which may count against Newsdesk 4 for some potential users. However, an array of filters and advanced search options make this product feel much like an online commercial database, with which information professionals will feel very comfortable.

Purchase VIP Report: Product Review of Newsdesk 4 in the FreePint Shop. Or save money by purchasing VIP Issue No. 84, which also includes VIP Report: Product Review of Factiva.com.

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