Search Alerts
This will be the first in a series of posts dedicated to evaluating the impact of social media on school districts. Watch this short video if you want to get an overview of the importance of social media.
As school board members, part of our job requires us to research topics related to public education. Being able to find relevant results from searches is crucial. Sometimes after your initial research you want to monitor the topic but not spend time recreating the search query. That is where Search Alert are used.
Why use Search Alerts
•To follow a particular topic or person on an ongoing basis — to then selectively engage with via reading, commenting on, blogging about, etc.
•To discover new conversations, content, and people within a topic area . For me, search alerts have been the most effective means for discovery of new sources of information.
Google Alerts
There are many search engines but I use Google.
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google search results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include: monitoring for the appearance of your name in new stories and blogs, keeping abreast of stories posted about your school district and tracking a topic of interest.
To create a Google Alert you need to sign up for a Google account (this is not same as signing up for a GMail account). For additional information about Google Alerts you can read Google’s FAQ . You can complete your first Google Alert by entering your search criteria like this:
In this request, I will receive an email once a day if Alameda Unified appears in a news stories on the internet. I will not receive an email if there are no stories.
Helpful Tips
Exact Keyword Search: You can specify exact keywords by putting a plus sign (+) in front of the word. For example, if you search for the word “publish,” Google search results would include “publishing” and “publisher.” Adding a plus sign to the beginning of the word (+publish) will ensure that you only receive exact matches.
Exact Key Phrase Search: When you search for a phrase, Google results will returns anything that includes all of the words in the phrase, not that exact phrase. But if you enclose your search in quotes (“how to publish a book”), the results will only include that exact phrase.
Alternate Keyword: To return a search with alternate results, use “OR” between the words (the letters OR must be capitalized). For example, “author OR writer” will return results with either keyword. For a more complex search, you can put part of the phrase in parenthesis: (author OR writer) “business books”.
Search a Single Website: If you want to track new entries on a specific site, you can use the “site:” operator. For example, if you want to track mentions of business books on the New York Times website, your search would look like this: “business book” site:nytimes.com.
Links to your website: Want to know when someone links to your website or blog? Your search would look like this: link:www.alameda.k12.ca.us
Take Action
Take a minute and Google your school district. What results show up? Are there any surprising links from unexpected sources? Google your name and city together. Are your surprised by where your name is found? Create one alert and monitor the results.
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