How blogTO uses NewsWhip to stay ahead of the news cycle

Newsrooms… Traditionally, they’re among the most frenetic places to work. Now, with a relentless 24/7 news cycle and new social platforms constantly emerging, how do the best editors stay ahead of breaking stories? Simply put — with NewsWhip’s daily AI Digests and tailored Predictive Alerts. 

Why blogTO chose NewsWhip

In February 2024, we spoke with Tim Shore of blogTO (a local Canadian news site based out of Toronto) about how he and his team use NewsWhip to build and prioritize their editorial schedule. As a data-driven newsroom, they’ve always been ahead of the curve in terms of content discovery and social monitoring, and they’re familiar with the best tools to find and evaluate content ideas. 

So, what led Shore and his team to choose NewsWhip over all the other tools on the market?

“NewsWhip was a more attractive tool due to the “predictive analytics” it provides, alongside the more robust features overall… we were also looking for a tool that was going to be supported and improved over time.”

How blogTO use NewsWhip to stay ahead of breaking news

Using NewsWhip has become an intrinsic part of blogTO’s day-to-day operations. They rely on pre-configured alerts and digests to keep up-to-date on the content gaining the most engagement. Specifically, blogTO use NewsWhip to:

1. Monitor online content through our predictive alerts

They find NewsWhip alerts and digests particularly useful given the team doesn’t have much time to proactively log in and search for specific topics. Instead, the news is brought to them.

“The alerts and info shared in the Daily Digests we receive from NewsWhip are acted upon multiple times each day. As a data source, they represent a meaningful percentage of where we find ideas for content already in the news cycle.”

The team has more than a dozen real-time alerts and daily digests currently configured and plans to expand that remit as they grow. 

2. Keep abreast of the articles published across their competitors’ publications

blogTO’s competitive set is relatively stable over time (typically, there are one-to-two new entrants a year). That said, as new competitors emerge, they add them to their NewsWhip dashboards to follow their output and track the performance of their articles.

3. Track keywords that apply to their editorial remit

To identify emerging or underreported stories, Shore determines which keywords/topics to monitor by tailoring his searches to blogTO’s editorial scope. Unsurprisingly, certain keywords fare better for the Toronto-based company.

“Our readers are very interested in Drake, especially as he happens to live here most of the year. So, we use “Drake” as a keyword to track any news that we think might be of interest to our readers. “Toronto” would also be a more general keyword we use, since almost all of the content we produce is related to the city we live in.”

blogTO’s target demographic is increasingly choosing to get their news from TikTok and Instagram, so it’s vital that Tim and his team can track stories on these platforms instead of the more traditional channels, like Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter.

Key Takeaway

As news consumption habits evolve, predictive media insights tools such as NewsWhip are helping journalists and media professionals adapt and understand these changes. Dictating what will dominate the news cycle is a fine science, and it’s our specialty. 

And we know that being time-poor isn’t just something the world’s busiest newsrooms have to overcome; we’re seeing a need for media insights like those blogTO use across all industries. That’s why we’re committed to creating ready-to-use solutions such as our new Report Builder and AI Digests that will enhance your workflow and save you time. 

To learn more, head to book a chat with us here.