Trigger Nuances

IMPORTANT NOTE: TriggerNews triggers off the exact word or words entered by users and matched to the same in the subject header of a news release or article. Capitalization is ignored, but exact spelling is required for successful triggering to occur.

Oftentimes, news releases will refer to companies by their names or branded initials. To broaden and ensure all alerts on a particular company are received, it is recommended separate and distinct triggers are set to cover these situations. Company symbols should also be used whenever possible. The following examples provide illustration:

At first glance, it would appear duplicate alerts might be received because of the duplication inherent in the above triggers. TriggerNews has a built-in filtering mechanism to pop only one alert message when multiple messages containing the same text are triggered on different triggers. Further, only one message will be saved in the Messages folder, but messages of this type will be shaded a light color of pink in the Messages folder to indicate there are multiple instances of that message. A user can view them all by double-clicking on the shaded message and hitting the Show Next Trigger button directly below the Source logo in the upper right of that window.

Another key point to consider is in the case of Trigger 1. A press release may refer to HP as Hewlett Packard or Hewlett-Packard. To get the broadest coverage with one trigger, the example above shows just Hewlett. Another example might be Lockheed Martin. In that case, setting the trigger to Lockheed will guarantee triggering for variations in Lockheed’s name, such as Lockheed Martin, Lockheed-Martin or Lockheed/Martin.

Just be careful the single word you use isn't so generic it pops a number of alerts on other similarly named companies. By using Lockheed or Hewlett, you won't get triggered alerts on other companies, but you might if you used General in place of General Electric.

Users are restricted by TriggerNews from adding the words Corporation or Company (or their abbreviations) to the end of a company name when entering triggers. Again, TriggerNews acts on the exact match of a trigger to what it finds in the subject header of an incoming news article and these words are not often used.

Every company has its own wording standards when issuing press releases or news items. Because of the exact matching nature of TriggerNews, it is advised to use multiple variations of generic words as trigger phrases to ensure triggering of all potential news content. The following examples illustrate this point:

Global Triggers

One of the major features of TriggerNews is the ability to receive Global Trigger alerts. These alerts are triggered by key words or phrases that are entered and managed by the TriggerNews Administrator. They are routed to all subscribers of TriggerNews, regardless of a user’s individually assigned triggers. A word of caution: They will produce a substantial number of additional triggered messages, which you may find useful because you will get news about companies you didn't know about. You may also find they produce too many alerts, which is why TriggerNews initially has them turned off.

Global Trigger settings are found in News Sources. There are 3 options of how they can be handled:

1. Route Global Trigger messages to the Messages folder and don't pop an alert window.
2. Route Global Trigger messages to the Messages folder and do pop an alert window.
3. Exclude Global Trigger messages from being received (default).

Global Triggers may be turned on (Options 1 or 2) by going to News Sources, highlighting Global Triggers in the Excluded Alerts column and clicking the Add button. To disallow Global Trigger popups, yet still continue to receive and route them to your Messages folder (Option 1), click on the checkbox below the Special Alerts section.

If users decide to stop receiving them again, the process can be reversed by going to News Sources, highlighting Global Triggers in the Included Alerts column and clicking the Remove button. Note this will not permanently delete them; only disable them until the user decides at some future date to re-enable them.

Tip: You may want to turn Global Trigger alerts off when away for extended periods like vacations or lengthy business trips. The queuing of messages in TriggerNews works on the principal of Last in, First out, so if your message queue limit is set to 50 (default), you will only receive the 50 most recent messages. If Global Triggers were set on, a number of those queued messages will most likely be messages based on Global Triggers mixed in with messages triggered on your own personal triggers. By turning Global Triggers off for extended absences, you guarantee only messages based on your own triggers will be waiting for you.