I last spoke to Ari Newman, CEO at Filtrbox shortly after their launch (see Create Web Monitoring Filters with Filtrbox).  Now they have launched the second major iteration of this product, G2, built on lessons learned in the months since they first appeared.  Filtrbox has redone the core platform to increase performance, simplified the user experience, and are more sharply focusing their marketplace positioning. Filtrbox is targeted at the business professional in any department who wants to control their own market intelligence and needs more than basic, free services as Google Alerts. They have priced G2 to fit an individual budget and even their group version would likely fit easily into a department budget.

Ari outlined several scenarios on how business professionals might want to use Filtrbox. Individual sales people can follow their prospects, customers and competitors. They can find reasons to call customers about their latest moves or changes in the market. They can track the problems their business addresses to stay current in the market and more intelligently engage with their prospects, as well as see the moves their competition are making. Executives can track what their competitors are doing as soon they make a move in the market, or even before through such channels as Twitter. Product management and marketing professionals can monitor the conversation around their brand. Investors can hear the market buzz on their portfolio companies directly from the early adopters. In difficult times it becomes even more important to be smarter about what is happening in whatever you are doing. I would agree.

To address these issues Filtrbox monitors millions of online sources based on user specified business logic.  You can set up search terms and tell it what not to look at and block domains to keep the noise down. For example, I do not need to see what my blog is doing as I already know that. The FiltrRank algorithm qualifies and scores results prior to delivery. The system aggregates results for multiple searches in a single interface, and features historical analysis of results over time demonstrating trends.  The results are identified as either: mainstream news outlets, blogs, or social networks like Twitter, but delivered in a single interface. Here is a sample Filtrbox dashboard of results.

Here is sample of reporting by source.

Here is a sample of trend analysis on several filtrs.

Filtrbox also delivers a well-formatted email every morning containing new articles. They call this the Daily Briefing, and Ari says many of their customers have become addicted to reading first thing in the morning. I can see why as I look these types of briefings every morning myself. Additionally, the service provides custom RSS feeds so you can read your Filtrbox articles in a portal or RSS reader on your computer or mobile phone. Here is a sample create feeds screen.

Filtrbox G2 also adds team collaboration features that allow managers to provide a shared knowledgebase of continuously updated intelligence on their company, competition or industry. FiltrRank scoring allows you to control the volume of your results by providing a qualified score for each article; allowing you to set thresholds to manage the volume of results and dial the noise down.  You are able to set an unlimited number of searches or filtrs and get a six month history for each. Ari said they overhauled the platform to handle this increased offering. This allows you to do simple brand monitoring and look at any issues that seem worthwhile, even your favorite sports team.  They also provide a Filtrbox blog to offer more context to what they are doing.

I also asked Ari how he is using Twitter, a current interest of mine. He said they are using it in three ways and they use Fltrbox to better filter the tweets for their areas of interest. First, they look for conversations around issues that they can address. Then they send out @ messages to those who seem like they would be receptive to engaging in conversations about these issues. If tweets are directed at Filtrbox, they use the company Twitter account to respond. If it is indirect, Ari will use his own Twitter account to engage.  Second, they use Twitter for customer support. People can send public @ or private DMs to the company Twitter feed to ask for help.  Third, they use it to communicate what is happening at Filtrbox, announcing new features, blog posts, tips, and other information that might be useful to their followers.

I signed up and gave it a try. I was impressed that I did not have to ask for help, as is often the case for me with new software. It was indeed completely intuitive. You also get reports of trends in the search topics you select. I found information that I had not seen in other resources and very few false positives. I could easily delete those to keep the trend data clean. I like the icons for the three sources types: mainstream news outlets, blogs, or social networks. I recommend giving it a try. It is now part of my tool kit. There is a free version but the paid version has a 14-day free trial and more features.