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Creating Spike notifications for streams in Social

Learn how to create Spike notifications for streams to automatically detect unusual increases in coverage volume, sentiment, or social shares.

Spike notifications help you identify unusual increases in coverage activity without reviewing every mention individually. You can monitor spikes in coverage volume, positive sentiment, negative sentiment, or social shares and receive alerts when activity exceeds your configured threshold. Follow these steps to create a spike notification for a Social Stream:

Accessing Notification Creation

From a Social Stream

  1. Open a Social Stream from the Monitoring homepage or Launchpad.

  2. Select the cogwheel icon in the upper-right corner of the Social Stream.

    Social Stream showing the GPT-5 stream with the Edit Mention Stream icon highlighted in the toolbar.
  3. Select the Notifications tab.

    Notifications tab for a Mention Stream with the + Add notification button above the notification list.
  4. Select + Add notification.

  5. The Create new notification page opens with the current Social Stream already selected.

    Create new notification page with New Mention selected as the notification type.

From the Account menu

  1. Open the account menu.

  2. Select Notifications. The Notifications page displays the notifications created across streams in a single location.

    Notifications page accessed from the account menu, showing existing notification configurations and the Add notification button.
  3. Select + Add notification.

  4. Select the stream you want to monitor depending on the mention type selected.

    Create New Notification page showing the Social Stream selected and New Mention selected as the notification type in Step 1 of the workflow.

Note:

The notification creation workflow is the same whether you start from a Social Stream or from the account menu. However, when you start from the account menu, you must first select a stream before continuing.

Selecting the Notification Type

The first step displays activity information for the selected Social Stream and allows you to choose a notification type

  1. Review the displayed Social Stream activity.

  2. Select Spike.

  3. Select Next.

    Spike notification type selected in the first step of the notification setup workflow.

Configuring the Spike Threshold

Use the Spike Size Threshold slider to define how much activity must increase before a notification is triggered.

  • Set a lower threshold, such as 100% to 200%, to trigger notifications for moderate increases in activity.

  • Set a higher threshold to trigger notifications only for larger spikes.

    Customise step showing a 300% Spike Size Threshold and Volume selected as the spike type.

Selecting the Spike Type

Select the type of activity you want to monitor:

  • Volume: Monitors increases in mention volume.

  • Positive Sentiment: Monitors increases in positive sentiment coverage.

  • Negative Sentiment: Monitors increases in negative sentiment coverage.

  • Social Shares: Monitors increases in social engagement and content amplification.

Configuring Content Filters

  1. Select the content that should be included when calculating spikes.

  2. Select the social platforms to include in the spike calculation.

  3. Apply Advanced Filters to monitor spikes within a specific subset of coverage.

  4. Select Next.

TIP

Advanced filters allow you to calculate spikes using only a specific subset of content. For example, you can create a notification that monitors only French-language coverage. If a volume spike exceeds the configured threshold within that filtered content set, a notification is triggered. You can also combine advanced filters with different spike metrics to create more targeted alerts. To learn more about configuring advanced filters, see What Social Stream Filters can I Enable?

Customise step showing spike types, selected media types, advanced filters.

Advanced Filters window showing categories and keyword fields for refining Social Stream coverage.

Configuring Delivery Options

You can choose from the delivery methods available to your organization. Available methods can include:

  • Mobile - Turn on Mobile to receive notifications in the CisionOne mobile app.

  • Email - Configure recipients and sender settings, including the Send As option.

  • Slack - Select the Slack channel that will receive notifications.

  • Microsoft Teams - Turn on Microsoft Teams to receive notifications in Microsoft Teams.

Note:

  • The available delivery methods depend on your organization’s configuration.

  • Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations must be configured before you can select the corresponding channels.

  • For Mobile notifications, you must install the CisionOne mobile app and enable notifications for the app on your device.

Configuring Email Delivery

  1. When you select Email, you can add one or more of the following recipient types:

  • Internal users

  • Distribution lists

  • External recipients who do not have access to the platform

Information:

When you add an external recipient to a New Mention notification, the recipient must complete an email opt-in process before notifications can be delivered. Until the recipient confirms the subscription, notification delivery remains paused.

2. Select a Send As option to control how the sender appears to recipients:

  • Organization: Displays your organization name as the sender.

  • User: Displays your name as the sender.

  • Custom: Lets you enter a custom sender name.

  • Organization Domain: Sends notifications from your organization's DKIM-authenticated domain (available only when DKIM is configured).

    Note:

    If your organization has configured email integrations such as DKIM, notification emails can be sent using your organization's authenticated email settings instead of the default system sender.

Email delivery settings showing a recipient address and Organisation, User, and Custom Send As options.

Configuring Slack Delivery

  1. Turn on Slack in the Delivery section.

  2. Select the Slack channel that will receive notifications.

  3. Enter the Channel ID and select Verify.

    Note:

    To find the Slack Channel ID, open the Slack channel, select the channel name at the top of the page, and then select About or Channel details. The Channel ID appears at the bottom.

Saving the Notification

After configuring the delivery options:

  1. Review the notification settings.

  2. Select Add Notification.

The notification is saved and added to the notification list. You can manage its recipients from the notification grid.

Notifications tab showing a saved Volume Spike email notification with media types, recipient count, status, and action icons.

Viewing the Notification

A Spike notification email provides a summary of the detected spike, including the affected Social Stream, spike type, date and time, and a visualization of the activity that triggered the alert. The email also includes a link to open the related Social Stream in CisionOne for further investigation.

You can review the spike details directly from the email and select View Social Stream to explore the underlying coverage and activity in CisionOne.

Email notification containing spike details,

For information about creating other notification types or managing existing notifications, see Creating New Mention notifications for streams in Social and Managing notifications for streams in Social.

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