Use cases

Hear what people say on Reddit

The most honest product feedback is often a Reddit post. Follow the subreddits where your users talk, let Owlie keep the posts that matter, and get each one as a short, labeled summary you can count, route and act on.

The recipe

One Operation listens to every subreddit you choose. These are the settings to choose when you create it; you can change any of them later.

  1. Sources

    Add each subreddit by its address, such as reddit.com/r/selfhosted. Owlie checks every subreddit each hour for new posts and reads each post’s title and text.

  2. Filter

    Choose Keywords to catch your product and competitor names, or AI criteria for ideas that keywords can’t pin down, such as “someone describes a problem with their backup setup or asks for a tool recommendation”.

  3. Transform

    Choose Structured content and add the fields you want for every post: a category, the sentiment, the products mentioned and a one-line summary. Or choose Analyze with AI for a short written summary.

  4. Deliver

    Posts land in your Inbox with a link to the thread. Add a webhook to send each one to a spreadsheet, your support tool or a team channel.

Example

Illustrative example with a made-up post and a made-up product. AI criteria kept the post; the fields turn it into a row you can count.

  1. Extracted content

    The title and text of a new post in a subreddit Owlie follows.

    reddit.com/r/selfhosted

    Looking for a backup tool that doesn't need a weekend to set up

I've been using Stashbox for two years but the last update broke my scheduled jobs and support hasn't answered in a week. I need something that backs up three servers to S3, runs on a schedule and tells me when a job fails. Happy to pay. What are you all using?

  2. Fields

    Each field says what to extract. The same fields apply to every kept post.

    Fields: what to extract

    {
  "category": {
    "type": "enum",
    "values": ["problem", "question",
      "recommendation request", "praise"],
    "description":
      "What kind of post this is"
  },
  "sentiment": {
    "type": "enum",
    "values": ["negative", "neutral",
      "positive"],
    "description":
      "The author's mood"
  },
  "products_mentioned": {
    "type": "list of text",
    "description":
      "Tools or products named"
  },
  "summary": {
    "type": "text",
    "description":
      "The need, in one sentence"
  }
}

  3. Structured Result

    The same shape for every post, ready to count or send on.

    Result

    {
  "category":
    "recommendation request",
  "sentiment": "negative",
  "products_mentioned": [
    "Stashbox"
  ],
  "summary":
    "Wants scheduled S3 backups"
}

Variations

The same recipe with different Sources and fields.

  • Find people asking for what you build

    Write AI criteria that describe your customer’s problem, not your product’s name, and reply to the threads where someone is asking for exactly what you offer.

  • Track feedback about your product

    List your product name and its common misspellings as keywords, and add fields for the feature mentioned and whether it is a bug report, so recurring problems stand out.

  • Watch a competitor’s community

    Follow a competitor’s subreddit and keep the posts where users complain or consider switching. A weekly look at the Results shows what their customers miss.

  • Spot trends in a market

    Follow the large subreddits of your market with no filter, add a “topic” field, and count Results by topic over a few weeks to see what people talk about more.

Good to know

What this recipe can and can’t do today.

  • Owlie reads the post, not the comments

    Each Result is based on the post’s title and text. Replies in the thread are not read, so open the post from the Result to see the discussion.

  • Link and image posts have little to read

    A post that only shares a link or an image has no text of its own. Use a filter to skip those, or expect a short Result based on the title.

  • Subreddits, not all of Reddit

    Owlie follows the subreddits you add and every new post in them. It doesn’t search all of Reddit for a word, so add the communities where your topic comes up.

  • What it costs

    Keyword checks are free. Each Result costs 1 credit plus its AI usage, so at least 2 credits. AI criteria cost at least 1 credit for every post they read, so add a keyword filter to busy subreddits when you can. New accounts start with free credits.

Questions

Short answers to what people ask most.

  • Can I get alerts when my product is mentioned on Reddit?

    Yes, in the subreddits you follow. Add your product name as a keyword and turn on email, and Owlie emails you about each new post that mentions it.

  • Can Owlie tell the sentiment of a post?

    Yes. Add a choice field such as negative, neutral or positive, and the AI picks one value for every post. You can classify posts any way you like the same way.

  • How quickly do new posts show up?

    Owlie checks every subreddit at the top of each hour. A new post usually reaches your Inbox within minutes of the next check.

  • Can I follow Reddit together with other sources?

    Yes. One Operation can follow subreddits, YouTube channels, RSS feeds and podcasts together, with one filter and one set of fields.

More use cases

Other ways to put Owlie to work.

Set this up in a few minutes.

Create an account, add a source, and choose the fields Owlie extracts from every new item.

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