Google Alerts
Simply stated, Google alerts are free email updates from Google search results about any topic you’re interested in tracking.
Why should you and your organization use Google Alerts? Personally, I track numerous search terms for various topics and projects. For example, I track my own name, my websites, certain key industry events and terms, and many more terms/topics. Anytime Google adds something to its index that mentions the topic “Civil War Lesson Plans” – I receive an immediate email notification with a link to that item.
Google Alerts allows me to quickly and easily monitor what people are saying about me, my company and the sites I manage. If someone mentions any of these online, I am able to respond. For example, if someone adds a link to one of my websites and makes a comment about it, I can jump over to their site and say thanks. If it happens to be a negative comment, I can respond accordingly. Without Google Alerts, I would not be able to find out about this link.
Finally, without the ability to learn about new content, I would have difficulty participating in online discussions about various topics or about issues that are important. Moreover, Google Alerts help me to follow new developments in the industry.