Lesson 2 of 4
Setting Up Data Sources
Estimated time: 6 minutes
Setting Up Data Sources
Brand mentions can appear anywhere — social media, forums, review sites, news articles, blog posts. In this lesson, you'll connect OpenClaw to the most important sources and set up keyword tracking.
Define your tracking keywords
Before connecting any sources, decide what to monitor:
openclaw chat "Set up brand monitoring for GlowUp Skincare.
Track these keywords:
- Brand: 'GlowUp', 'Glow Up Skincare', 'glowupskin'
- Products: 'GlowUp Moisturizer', 'GlowUp Serum', 'GlowUp SPF'
- Competitors: 'RadiantSkin', 'DewDrop Beauty'
- Industry: 'clean skincare', 'vegan moisturizer'
Exclude:
- Our own social media posts
- Retweets of our official accounts
- Generic uses of 'glow up' not related to our brand"
✅ Brand monitoring configured
Tracking: 9 keywords across 3 categories
Excluding: Own posts, retweets, generic "glow up"
Brand: GlowUp, Glow Up Skincare, glowupskin
Products: GlowUp Moisturizer, GlowUp Serum, GlowUp SPF
Competitors: RadiantSkin, DewDrop Beauty
Industry: clean skincare, vegan moisturizer
Start narrow, expand later
Begin with your exact brand name and top products. You can always add more keywords later. Too many keywords from day one means too much noise.
Connect social media sources
Use Twitter's API (v2) for real-time mention tracking:
openclaw skill add twitter-monitor \
--bearer-token "YOUR_TWITTER_BEARER_TOKEN" \
--mode "stream"
To get a bearer token:
- Apply for a Twitter Developer Account
- Create a project and app
- Generate a Bearer Token (read-only is sufficient)
The stream mode uses Twitter's filtered stream for near-instant detection. For lower volume, use search mode which polls every 5 minutes.
Connect news and blog sources
Track media coverage and blog posts:
openclaw skill add news-monitor \
--provider "newsapi" \
--api-key "YOUR_NEWSAPI_KEY" \
--domains "techcrunch.com,theverge.com,allure.com,byrdie.com"
Get a free NewsAPI key at newsapi.org. The free tier covers 100 requests/day, which is plenty for most brands.
If you don't want to use NewsAPI, OpenClaw can also ingest Google Alerts via RSS:
# Set up Google Alert at google.com/alerts
# Choose "RSS feed" as delivery method
# Copy the RSS URL
openclaw skill add rss-monitor \
--url "YOUR_GOOGLE_ALERTS_RSS_URL" \
--check-interval "30m"
Google Alerts is free but slower (hours vs. minutes) and less comprehensive.
For products, track review platforms:
openclaw skill add review-monitor \
--platforms "amazon,trustpilot,g2" \
--product-urls "https://amazon.com/dp/YOURPRODUCTID"
New reviews are checked every hour. Especially important for catching negative reviews early.
Verify your sources are working
Check that data is flowing in:
openclaw chat "Show me the status of all monitoring sources"📡 Monitoring Sources — Status
✅ Twitter/X — streaming (connected 2 min ago)
Keywords: 9 tracked | Last mention: 3 min ago
✅ Reddit — polling every 5 min
Subreddits: 3 monitored | Last mention: 12 min ago
✅ NewsAPI — polling every 30 min
Domains: 4 tracked | Last article: 2 hours ago
✅ Hacker News — polling every 10 min
Last check: 4 min ago | No recent mentions
Total mentions today: 23
Breakdown: Twitter (15), Reddit (6), News (2)
Test with a manual search
Pull recent mentions to see what OpenClaw finds:
openclaw chat "Search for all mentions of GlowUp in the last 24 hours"🔍 GlowUp Mentions — Last 24 Hours (23 found)
Twitter (15):
@beautyblogger: "Just tried @GlowUpSkin moisturizer — my
skin has never felt this hydrated! 💕" (❤️ 142, RT 28)
@skepticalsally: "Is it just me or does the new GlowUp SPF
leave a white cast? Not great for darker skin tones." (❤️ 89)
Reddit (6):
r/SkincareAddiction: "GlowUp Serum review — 2 weeks in"
(↑ 234, 47 comments) — Mostly positive, mentions texture
r/30PlusSkinCare: "Broke out after using GlowUp Moisturizer"
(↑ 67, 12 comments) — Negative, gaining traction
News (2):
Byrdie: "10 Best Vegan Moisturizers for 2025" — GlowUp listed #4
Allure: "New Clean Beauty Brands to Watch" — Brief mention
That Reddit post about the breakout? That's exactly the kind of mention you want to catch early. In the next lesson, you'll set up sentiment analysis to automatically flag it.
Why does the course recommend starting with a narrow set of tracking keywords?
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