Create a listener: track keywords across social platforms
Learn what a listener is, then create one with Snitch AI or the listener editor to track keywords on Reddit, X, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Hacker News.
Last updated
A listener tells SnitchFeed which posts to collect and how to score them. Create one for each topic you want to watch: your brand, a competitor, a pain point you solve, or a campaign.
What is a listener?
A listener is a saved monitoring setup. It watches Reddit, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Bluesky and Hacker News for the keywords and profiles you choose. Every post it collects becomes a mention with a Fit Score.
A listener decides what gets collected. A feed decides what you see, and what gets sent to Slack, Discord, email or webhooks.
- Each new listener gets its own feed automatically.
- One feed can combine several listeners.
- Alerts belong to feeds, not listeners.
A listener has five sections, the same ones you see in the editor:
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Intent Signal | A plain-language description of the posts you want, plus what to score down. See Intent & Brand Context. |
| Keywords | The search terms, each with its own platforms and filters. See Keywords. |
| Authors | Profiles to always follow, and accounts to include or block. See Track profiles. |
| Subreddits to include or exclude, and whether to search posts, comments or both. | |
| Scan Intervals | How often X, LinkedIn and Hacker News are checked. See Scans & backfill. |
A listener can also be profile only: tracked profiles and no keywords.
Plan limits
| Starter | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Listeners | 3 | 10 |
| Keywords and tracked profiles (across all listeners) | 10 | 30 |
Paused listeners still count toward both limits. See Plans & billing.
Before you start
- Fill in Brand Context. SnitchFeed uses it, with the intent signal, to score mentions. Find it under Workspace Settings → Brand Context. See Brand Context.
- Know what costs credits. Scans on X, LinkedIn and Hacker News use credits, and so does AI scoring of each mention. See Credits.
Create a listener with Snitch AI
Click + Listener in the top bar. It opens Snitch AI with a prompt to set up a listener.
Answer its questions about what you want to find.
Review the proposed setup it shows, then click Create listener.
You can change anything later in the editor. See Snitch AI for what else it can do.
Create a listener in the editor
Open Listeners in the sidebar and click Create a new Listener. The section list sits on the left. A Required credits/mo estimate shows below it.
Name the listener
Type a name in Name your new listener. Its feed gets the same name.
Write the intent signal
Open Intent Signal. Answer What kind of posts are you looking for? in 200 to 500 characters: who you want to hear from and which situations matter.
Optionally, answer What is not relevant to you? (up to 500 characters), for example job posts or giveaways. Click Save Intent. See Intent & Brand Context for examples.
Add keywords
Open Keywords and click Track Keyword. Enter a Main Term and pick at least one platform. Repeat for each term.
See Keywords for what to track and how each field matches.
Authors
Open Authors. It has two parts:
- Authors (Tracked Profiles): paste a LinkedIn or X profile URL and press Enter. SnitchFeed collects every new post from that account, even with no keyword match. See Track profiles.
- Authors (Keyword Tracking): Only from these authors limits keyword matches to the accounts you list. Never from these authors drops posts from them.
Author entries must match exactly. A leading @, u/ or /u/ is ignored.
| Platform | Enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| X | The handle, without @ | snitchfeed |
| The full name shown on the profile | Jane Doe (does not match Jane Doe, PhD) | |
| The username, with Reddit's capitalization | spez | |
| Bluesky | The full handle | theunhacked.bsky.social |
| Hacker News | The username | pg |
Capitalization is ignored on every platform except Reddit.
Open Reddit if any term runs on Reddit. It shows Not listening when none does.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Only these subreddits | Limits matches to the communities you list | Empty |
| Exclude these subreddits | Drops matches from the communities you list | Empty |
| Search Posts / Search Comments | Chooses what to match | Both on |
| Include NSFW Results | Includes adult content | Off |
Subreddit names are case sensitive (SaaS, not saas). A leading r/ is ignored, and you can paste a comma-separated list.
Set scan intervals
Open Scan Intervals to choose how often X, LinkedIn and Hacker News are checked. Defaults: X every 4 hours, LinkedIn every 12 hours, Hacker News every 6 hours. Reddit and Bluesky match in real time. See Scans & backfill.
Save
Click Save at the top. The listener needs at least one term or tracked profile, and every term needs at least one platform.
What happens after you save
- A feed is created with the listener's name. It shows Medium and High Fit score mentions, sorted by Fit Score. Open it from Feeds.
- Historical backfill starts on Reddit, X, LinkedIn and Hacker News, so the feed is not empty while you wait. See Historical backfill.
- Tracked profiles are fetched once right away, then on the X or LinkedIn interval.
- Scanning begins. Reddit and Bluesky match new posts as they appear. X, LinkedIn and Hacker News are checked on their intervals.
New listeners send no alerts until you turn them on for a feed. See Notifications.
Edit a listener
Open Listeners, pick the listener, change any section and click Save. Some changes affect mentions you already have. SnitchFeed lists them in a confirmation dialog first:
| Change | Effect on existing mentions |
|---|---|
| Delete a keyword term | Its mentions are archived. |
| Add an author to Never from these authors | Their mentions are archived. |
| Add an author to Only from these authors | Mentions from other authors are archived. |
| Add a subreddit to Only these subreddits | Mentions from other subreddits are archived. |
| Add a subreddit to Exclude these subreddits | Mentions from that subreddit are archived. |
To change the intent signal, edit it and click Update Intent. SnitchFeed asks how many recent mentions to re-score. Save stays blocked until you do. See Re-scoring after a change.
Adding a term, changing a term's query, Whole word or Case sensitive, or turning on a new platform for a term starts a backfill for that term.
Deleting a listener cannot be undone
The trash icon at the top of the editor deletes the listener and all its
data. To confirm, type delete followed by the listener name. To stop
collecting without losing data, pause the listener instead.
Next steps
- Keywords: pick terms that find buyers, not noise.
- Intent & Brand Context: tell SnitchFeed which posts matter.
- Notifications: get alerts for new mentions.