Frequently Asked Questions

Tagtaly automates news analysis by scanning 500+ articles daily from major UK and US news sources (BBC, Guardian, Sky, Independent, Washington Post). It classifies stories by topic (Politics, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Money), analyzes sentiment, detects viral potential, and generates real-time visualizations. In seconds, you understand what's happening in the news landscape.

Most news sites show you articles. Tagtaly shows you data about articles. Instead of reading 100 stories to understand trends, you see visualizations revealing what's surging, what's sentiment is shifting, which outlets are covering what, and which stories have viral potential. We're a meta-layer above news—showing you patterns, not just individual articles.

Tagtaly is designed for: newsroom editors (story prioritization), journalists (trend discovery), social media managers (viral tracking), researchers (media analysis), and data journalists (story angles). Anyone making editorial decisions based on news trends benefits from Tagtaly's data.

Not all news is important. Our mission is to identify stories that matter—stories that are surging, viral, controversial, or significant. And we use data to prove it. Rather than relying on opinion, we show you the numbers: sentiment scores, virality metrics, coverage volume, and trends. Let data guide your editorial decisions.

Yes, the Tagtaly dashboard is completely free. We're building the platform to serve the journalism community and researchers. There are no paywalls, no premium tiers, no hidden costs. Access all features for free.

Tagtaly tracks 5 major news sources (BBC, Guardian, Sky, Independent, Washington Post). If your favorite outlet isn't in this list, its coverage won't appear. We focus on high-volume, representative sources to provide comprehensive UK/US news coverage. You can request additional sources.

Tagtaly updates hourly. New articles are added to the database throughout the day, sentiment is recalculated, virality scores are updated, and charts are regenerated. The "Last updated" timestamp shows when the most recent refresh occurred (usually within 60 minutes).

The sentiment score measures emotional tone on a scale from -1.0 (very negative) to +1.0 (very positive). Scores between -0.25 and +0.25 are neutral. Sentiment doesn't mean "good" or "bad"—it means the emotional language used in articles. A scandal story has negative sentiment but is important news. Always verify surprising sentiment results by reading actual articles.

A virality score (0-20) predicts how likely a story is to go viral on social media. Scores 15+ indicate very high viral potential. It combines 5 detection algorithms: topic surge (week-over-week growth), political mentions, record numbers, sentiment shifts, and media bias. Use high virality scores to identify stories before they explode, but remember—it's prediction, not certainty.

Different outlets have different editorial priorities and resources. BBC might publish 3 articles on Topic X while Guardian publishes 10. This doesn't mean one is "better"—it shows different coverage focus. Tagtaly tracks these patterns so you can understand media bias and editorial strategy across outlets.

Tagtaly uses automated analysis (sentiment scoring, virality detection), which has limitations. Sarcasm, nuance, and context can be misinterpreted. We recommend: verify high-virality scores manually, sample-check sentiment accuracy, and always read actual articles before making editorial decisions. Data is a guide, not gospel.

Check the dashboard during editorial meetings (7-8 AM recommended). Use virality scores to prioritize story assignments. Track sentiment shifts to understand coverage tone. Compare outlet coverage to find gaps. Use topic trends to plan ahead. See our Newsroom Guide for detailed workflows and best practices.

Currently, Tagtaly visualizations are available on the dashboard only. We're exploring options for embed codes and API access for newsroom partners. Contact us if you're interested in integration options.

The dashboard doesn't have a direct download feature yet. However, we're building data export capabilities for newsroom partners. If you need bulk data access, get in touch to discuss options.

Each chart reveals a different data dimension. Topic surges show what's growing. Sentiment charts show emotional tone. Virality charts show potential to trend. Coverage distribution shows what outlets prioritize. See our Dashboard Guide for detailed explanations of all 7 sections.

Tagtaly currently tracks: BBC News, The Guardian, Sky News, The Independent, and Washington Post (US coverage). These 5 sources provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage of UK and US news. We're evaluating additional sources—suggest outlets you'd like to see via email.

Tagtaly uses RSS feeds from news outlets to collect article data (headlines, summaries, URLs, publication times). Articles are deduplicated using MD5 hashing, stored in a SQLite database, and processed hourly. See our Methodology for technical details.

TextBlob is a natural language processing library that analyzes sentiment by scanning word-level sentiment values and calculating averages. We chose it because it's accurate for obvious positive/negative content, lightweight, and no ML model training required. See our Sentiment Guide for limitations.

Tagtaly doesn't filter for bias—we track it. All articles from tracked sources are included, regardless of editorial perspective. We show you outlet differences so you understand bias. Different outlets covering a story differently is a feature, not a bug.

Tagtaly uses weighted keyword matching to categorize stories. Politics stories mention government/parliament. Lifestyle covers health/crime/weather. Entertainment covers celebrities/TV. Money covers business/markets. Some stories fit multiple categories—we classify by primary focus. Misclassifications happen; let us know if you notice patterns.

Tagtaly shows aggregated, anonymized news data—not individual reader data. We don't track personal information. We analyze published articles and their metadata. See our Privacy Policy for complete details about how we handle data.

Tagtaly launched in 2024 as a tool to help journalists understand news trends through data. We started with UK and US news sources and are expanding coverage based on user feedback.

Not yet. The Tagtaly dashboard is fully responsive and works great on mobile browsers. A dedicated iOS/Android app is on our roadmap. Let us know if mobile app support is important to you.

Yes! We're building tools for newsroom partners. Custom integrations, API access, data exports, and team dashboards are available for organizations. Contact our partnerships team to discuss options.

Email:admin@tagtaly.com (general inquiries)
Partnerships:admin@tagtaly.com (newsroom integration)
Twitter:@tagtalynews