A search query in the Media Monitor determines which messages you monitor. For each search query you choose between an AI prompt or a manual search query, and you can use up to seven search queries at the same time. You use a saved search query for things like a report or an alert. In this article you read how to build a search query, how the search bar helps you and which operators you can use.
- Creating a search query
- Searching from the search bar in the dashboard
- Viewing and editing search queries
- Basic operators
- Operators for accounts, mentions and hashtags
- Operators for language, websites and sources
- Operators for messages and labels
- Operators for premium sources
Creating a search query
A good search query starts with a clear context. First decide what you want to monitor and why, and only then set up the search query. To do so, define three things:
- Topic: which messages is it about?
- Goal: what do you want to learn from the results?
- Desired output: in what form and over what period do you want to see the results?
Topic: all messages about accidents involving a fatbike.
Goal: with this search query you want to find out:
- how often this topic is discussed;
- what the sentiment is;
- on which media it is discussed a lot;
- what the behavior is among the residents of the municipality.
Desired output: a report covering the last 365 days, so you see how things develop over a full year.
A search query you save can be used again and again in the dashboard, in reports and in alerts.
- In the Media Monitor, go to the Search queries module. Here you see an overview of all your search queries.
-
Click Create search query.
-
In the window that opens, enter the details of your search query:
- Color: give your search query its own color, so you quickly recognize the results in charts.
- Search query name: give your search query a name. The search query is saved under this name, and you select it by this name later in reports and alerts.
- Search query keywords: enter the keywords for the topic you want to monitor. Combine keywords with operators such as AND and OR, see Basic operators.
- Click Save.
Your search query now appears in the overview. Use the three dots under Actions to edit or delete the search query.
Searching from the search bar in the dashboard
In the search bar of the dashboard you search with up to seven search queries at the same time. For each search query you choose between an AI prompt or a manual search query. From the search bar you can:
- select saved search queries;
- change the color of a search query;
- save a search query;
- change the name of a search query.
Click the pencil icon next to a search query to edit it and see all options.
The search bar automatically suggests fields and values. For example, if you type sentiment:, a list appears with the values positive, neutral and negative, from which you can select a value directly.
While you type, the software also checks your search query. If something is missing, such as a value after a field name, a message appears below the input field, for example Enter a value after the field name. An example of a complete search query:
searchquery:Greenpeace OR "albert heijn" AND sentiment:positive
Red error message in the search bar
A red error message means your query is not yet correct or not yet complete. Complete or adjust your query until the error message disappears.
Tip for long search queries
Enlarge the search bar when you use a long query. That way you can see the full query.
Viewing and editing search queries
In the Search queries overview you view and edit each search query individually, without having to go through the dashboard. You can also see there whether a search query is linked to reports, alerts or other search queries.
When you open a search query to edit it, you immediately see which reports and alerts your change affects. That way you know in advance what the effect of your change will be.
Edit rights required
You can only edit a search query if you have edit rights.
Nested search queries
A nested search query is a search query that is linked to another search query. Read more in Nested search: combining search queries.
Basic operators
With basic operators you combine keywords, exclude words and search for exact word combinations.
| Operator | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Only shows messages that contain all keywords. | social AND media AND monitoring |
| OR | Shows messages that contain one or more of the keywords. | social OR media OR monitoring |
| NOT | Excludes words. Both examples show messages with socialmedia, but only if vacature and monitoring do not appear in them. |
socialmedia NOT vacature NOT monitoring or socialmedia NOT (vacature OR monitoring)
|
| ( ) | Groups keywords. For simple search queries, parentheses are optional; for more complex search queries we recommend them. The example shows messages with social and media, or messages with monitoring and tool. | (social AND media) OR (monitoring AND tool) |
| " " | Searches for an exact combination of words in exactly this order. Without quotation marks, the words can appear anywhere and in any order in the message. | "social media monitoring" |
| * | Wildcard. Put an asterisk after a word to find all words that start that way. The example finds both OBI4wan and obiwankanobi. A wildcard works from a minimum of 3 letters. | OBI* |
| Combining values | Put multiple values for one operator between parentheses. |
sourcetype:(forum OR social), site:(nu.nl OR tweakers.net), lang:(nl OR en)
|
Operators for accounts, mentions and hashtags
With these operators you search for messages from or about a specific account, or for messages with a specific hashtag.
| Operator | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| @ or mention: | Searches for mentions of an account. |
@obi4wan or mention:obi4wan
|
| # or hashtag: | Searches for messages with a specific hashtag. |
#socialmedia or hashtag:socialmedia
|
| user: | Searches for messages posted from an account, or for an author in editorial media. |
user:obi4wan, user:"Henk Jan"
|
| account: | Searches for all messages from a social media account that is connected in Engage. | account:obi4wan |
Punctuation in an account name
If an account name contains a punctuation mark, put the name between quotation marks, for example user:"alex_ruiter". Without quotation marks, the punctuation mark works as a separator and you won't find the right messages.
Operators for language, websites and sources
With these operators you limit your search query to a language, a website, a type of source or a specific source.
| Operator | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| lang: | Searches by language or excludes a language using a language code. Add the operator at the end of your search query. |
... AND lang:en, ... NOT lang:de
|
| site: | Shows all messages from a website. You can combine this with other keywords. The second example shows messages on nu.nl in which OBI4wan is mentioned. |
site:nu.nl, obi4wan AND site:nu.nl
|
| website: | Searches for a specific URL, so you can zoom in on part of a website. For a website with subdomains, this lets you find all articles from that website, or exclude them all. |
website:nu.nl/sport, website:blogspot.com, NOT website:blogspot.com
|
| contenttype: | Searches for public content, paid content or manually added messages. Paid content is only available if you subscribe to it. |
contenttype:open, contenttype:premium, contenttype:owned
|
| sourcetype: | Searches for content from a type of source. Possible values are review, radio, tv, magazine, newspaper, news, weblog, forum, social and aggregator. An aggregator is a website that collects information from other websites, news sources and blogs. With NOT sourcetype:aggregator you exclude aggregators. |
sourcetype:radio, sourcetype:(radio OR tv)
|
| source: | Searches for content from a specific source. Which values you can use depends on the search result. |
source:"De Telegraaf", source:"telegraaf.nl", source:Instagram, source:Facebook, source:LinkedIn, source:Twitter
|
| provider: | Searches for content from a provider of paid content. Can only be used if you subscribe to paid content. | provider:anp |
Operators for messages and labels
With these operators you search for characteristics of a message, such as the message type, the sentiment, labels and attachments. You can also use them to refer to another search query.
| Operator | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| posttype: | Searches for the type of message: a comment, a shared message or a regular message. |
posttype:comment, posttype:share, posttype:post
|
| sentiment: | Searches for messages with a positive, neutral or negative sentiment. |
sentiment:positive, sentiment:neutral, sentiment:negative
|
| tag: | Searches for messages with an automatically generated tag from the tag cloud. Write the tag in lowercase. Which tags you can use depends on the search result. |
tag:auto, tag:verkeer
|
| zoekopdracht: or searchquery: | Refers to another search query in the Media Monitor. If the name contains spaces, put it between quotation marks. |
zoekopdracht:spam, zoekopdracht:"plaatsnamen Noord-Holland"
|
| label: | Searches for messages with a label. A label can have a maximum of 3 levels. Separate the levels with a forward slash. You can also search for multiple labels at once. |
label:"testlabel", label:"testlabel/test1label", label:"testlabel/test1label/test2label", label:(label1 OR label2)
|
| has:labels | Shows all messages that have been labeled via Tasks. | has:labels |
| has:reach | Shows all messages with a reach value. | has:reach |
| has:hashtags | Shows all messages with a hashtag. | has:hashtags |
| has:videos | Shows all messages with a video. | has:videos |
| has:images | Shows all messages with an image. | has:images |
| has:attachments | Shows all messages with an attachment. | has:attachments |
Search query name is case sensitive
The operators zoekopdracht: and searchquery: are case sensitive. Copy the name of the search query exactly as it was saved.
Operators for premium sources
Premium sources are paid sources, such as newspaper articles and radio and TV. You can only use them if you subscribe to these sources.
| Source | Search query |
|---|---|
| Media Info Group, online news articles | "MIG labels" AND sourcetype:news |
| Media Info Group, print newspaper articles | "MIG labels" AND sourcetype:newspaper |
| LexisNexis | "lexisnexis" AND site:ct.moreover.com |
| ANP | "ANP keywords" |
| RTV | site:dashboard.rtvmonitor.nl AND sourcetype:tv |
Need help with your search query?
Contact Support at support@obi4wan.com. Support is happy to help you build a good search query.