Help guides and videos
General Information
What is PoliMonitor?
PoliMonitor offers political monitoring and intelligence for public affairs, campaigners and lobbyists. We are always adapting, but currently we offer five main services:
Twitter Alerts - receive alerts from a broad range of political sources on Twitter regarding your given interests.
Publications Alerts - set up alerts tracking publications from the UK Parliament, various stakeholders, devolved legislature, and more.
Broadcast Alerts - be alerted instantly when any keywords you track are mentioned in Parliamentary debates or committee meetings.
Briefings Alerts - view weekly and daily updates on the Houses of Parliament and Committees.
People - find out all you need to know on relevant politicians.
How to make a PoliMonitor Account
Navigate to the PoliMonitor website.
Press 'sign in'.
Where it says 'create a free account here', press 'here'.
Fill in your preferred username, your email address, and your password. Click 'create account'.
You will then receive an email with the next steps for signup.
How to use Boolean Search Operators
Let’s say that you want to see Tweets that mention the term ‘offshore wind’ as well as the term ‘hydrogen’, unless they also mention ‘net zero’ or ‘solar’, in which case you don’t want them included. Here's how you would set up your search terms on PoliMonitor:
Navigate to ‘Create Twitter alert’ via the sidebar.
For your key terms, start with (“offshore wind” AND hydrogen). The AND is a Boolean search operator that allows you to search for both terms. Parentheses are useful for grouping terms together in this way. And quotation marks stop the search from picking up results with only the word ‘offshore’ or ‘wind’ instead of what we want - ‘offshore wind’.
Then add NOT (“net zero” OR solar) in order to skip over alerts that contain that phrase. The OR means the alert will not include results with either term.
Create your alert in order to receive more refined results.
Tip: Always capitalise your Boolean search operators like AND, OR and NOT.
How to share your PoliMonitor Alerts
Go to the alert you wish to share.
Click 'change this alert'.
In the box under the words 'send this alert to more people', enter the emails of the people you wish to share the alert with.
Click 'update'.
How to translate Twitter alert results
Navigate to ‘Translation Preferences’ via the sidebar.
Select the language you would like your Twitter alert results translated into and click ‘submit’.
Navigate to ‘Create Twitter alert’ via the sidebar. Put in a single term and select your source/s.
Click to tick the translation box.
Press ‘search’. This will show the most recent Twitter alert results translate.
Press ‘create alert’ to create the alert on your dashboard and enable alert emails to be sent to you.
How to create a Twitter alert
Go to the sidebar and click 'create Twitter alert'.
Type in your keyword/s to the search box.
Select the sources you are interested in.
Click 'search'.
Click 'create alert'.
This will take you to the 'Twitter alert dashboard'. Here you can name your alert by clicking the pen icon.
Click 'change this alert' for options to edit or delete the alert, change whether you receive it as a separate email, change when you receive the alert, and share the alert with others.
How to create a Twitter report
Go to the sidebar and select 'Twitter Alert Dashboard'.
Select 'recent tweets' on a relevant alert.
Click 'pin tweet'.
Either select an existing board or create a new board for your report. Then press 'pin tweet'.
Do this for all the tweets you wish to include in your report.
Go to the sidebar and select 'Manage Twitter Reports'.
Here you can delete the board, export data, or download the report. You can also share the report, and add text, images, and Tweets to your report.
How to edit Twitter alerts
Navigate to the 'Twitter Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Find the alert you wish to change and click 'change this alert'.
Click 'edit'.
Add or take away any sources or keywords as desired.
Click 'search'.
Click 'create alert'.
Viewing Twitter statistics and metadata
Part 1: Viewing Statistics
Navigate to the 'Twitter Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Move your cursor over the bar chart to view the number of Tweets per month.
Move your cursor over the dots on the chart to view sentiment each month.
Move your cursor over the donut charts to view top Tweeters and sources. Click a segment to view all their recent Tweets.
Part 2: Viewing and Exporting Metadata
Navigate to the 'Twitter Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Select 'export data' on the relevant alert.
Click the pink button that says 'Click here for more information about the MPs who have tweeted'.
Input your desired date range.
Here you can see metadata for relevant Tweets.
Click 'download tweets' and then 'download results' for a .csv file of this data.
How to remove Retweets from your alerts
Navigate to the 'Twitter Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Find the relevant alert and click 'change this alert'.
Click 'edit'.
Add 'NOT RT' to the end of your search.
Click 'search'.
Click 'create alert'.
How to view Tweets from Top Tweeters
Navigate to the 'Twitter Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Pan your cursor over the donut chart titled 'Top Tweeters'.
Click the segment of the Tweeter you are interested in.
Publications
How to create a Publications Alert
Navigate to the 'Create Publications Alert' page via the sidebar.
Input your key term/s in the search bar.
Select the sources you are interested in.
Press 'search'.
Press 'create alert'.
You will be redirected to the 'Publications Alert Dashboard'. Here you can edit or delete your alert, change how and when you receive your alert, and share your alert with others by inputing their email/s.
How to create a Publications Report
Navigate to the 'Publications Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Select 'recent results' on a relevant alert.
Click 'save to report'.
Either select an existing report or create a new report. Then press 'save to report'.
Do this for all the publications you wish to include in your report.
Go to the sidebar and select 'Manage Publications Reports'.
Here you can delete the report, export data, or download the report.
How to edit Publications alerts
Navigate to the ''Publications Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Find the alert you wish to change and select 'change this alert'.
Select 'edit'.
Add or take away any sources or keywords as desired.
Click 'search'.
Click 'create alert'.
Viewing publications statistics and data
Part 1: Viewing Statistics
Navigate to 'Publications Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Find the alert you are interested in.
Move your cursor over the bar chart to view the mentions per month for your alert.
Move your cursor over the donut charts to view top sources and types of result. Click a segment to view recent results.
Part 2: Exporting Data
Navigate to 'Publications Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Select 'export data' on the relevant alert.
Input your desired date range and click 'export data'.
This will download a .csv file with relevant data.
Viewing publications from specific sources
Navigate to the 'Publications Alert Dashboard' via the sidebar.
Find the alert you are interested in.
Pan your cursor over the donut chart titled 'Sources' or 'Result types'.
Click the segment to view recent results from specific sources.
Broadcast
How to create a Broadcast Alert
Navigate to the 'Create Broadcast Alert' page via the sidebar.
Input the keyword/s you wish to monitor into the search bar.
Select the source/s you wish to monitor.
Click 'search'.
This will direct you to the 'Broadcast Alert Dashboard', where you can turn your alert on and off, edit it, and delete it.
How to view Parliamentary transcripts
Navigate to the 'Full Transcripts' page via the sidebar.
Select the date of the broadcast you would like a transcript of.
Select the correct broadcast source.
Select the time slot you would like to view. This will display the transcript in hourly blocks.
Briefings
How to manage Briefings Alerts
Navigate to the 'Manage Briefings Alerts' page via the sidebar.
Toggle the switch below 'briefings emails' to choose whether or not to receive them.
Toggle the switch below 'keyword highlighting' to choose whether or not they will highlight your keywords from your alerts.
People
How to use the People service on PoliMonitor
Navigate to the 'People: House of Commons' or 'People: Senedd' page via the sidebar.
Find the politician that you are interested in and click their name.
Here you can view pertinent information about them as well as contact details and useful links.
How to use the People service contact database
Navigate to the 'People: House of Commons' page via the sidebar.
Use the tabs to select individual MPs, APPGs and Committees.
Click the ‘View selected’ tab to view the list.
Click the ‘Download list’ button to download the complete list with contact details.
How to use the CRM tool
Note: Your CRM data will be shared across your organisation so that you can collaborate with your colleagues and see their logs.
Navigate to the People service - e.g. 'People: House of Commons' page - via the sidebar.
Also available for Peers, MSPs, Senedd Members.
Click on individuals. This will show you all their details. You can add activity to the activity tracker by inputting the type of activity, the date, and further details. Click ‘add’.
You can add to the notes by typing into the notes box. Then press save.
Create a list by going to 'My lists', then 'Create a new list'. Input a name and a colour and save. Refresh the page.
To add an individual to the list, go to their entry, input the relevant list, and click ‘save’ to add to list. Do the same in the next dropdown to remove from lists.
You can also build lists by selecting people via the tabs at the top, e.g. by APPG, Committee, Party, etc. You can then ‘view current selection’ and edit more from here. Lastly, go to ‘my lists’, click the relevant list, and click ‘Add the current selection to this list'.
TOP TIP: Remember to select ‘Include the members of this list in the current selection?’ when you add new people to a list, otherwise if can overwrite your original list.