Discover Sources — Choose the Accounts, Websites and Topics to Watch

Discover Sources is where you tell Orsa what to watch for your brand. You add the social accounts, websites, web searches and Reddit communities you’d normally check by hand. Discover then collects what they publish into one feed, spots posts that are doing unusually well, and lets you save the best ideas.

You can watch four kinds of source:

• Social Media: public Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. For example, your three closest competitors.
• Websites: blogs and news sites. For example, an industry magazine’s blog.
• Web Watchlist: a search you’d type into a search engine, run for you every day. For example, “new coffee shop openings in Denver”.
• Reddit: subreddits and Reddit searches. For example, r/smallbusiness.

Open your brand’s Discover tab. You’ll see the Discover Sources page with five tabs: Reddit, Social Media, Websites, Web Watchlist and Signal Rules. Anyone on the brand’s team can add and remove sources.

What you add here shows up in Discover. New sources fill in at the next scheduled update, so give it a day. See How Discover Updates.

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Open your brand’s Discover tab.
2. Click the Social Media tab, then Add.
3. Pick a Platform, like Instagram.
4. Type the account’s Username without the @. For example, harborcoffee.
5. Tick Mark as competitor if it’s a competitor.
6. Click Add Account.
7. Click the Websites tab, then Add.
8. Paste a blog address into Website or Blog URL, like https://example.com/blog, and click Add Website.
9. Come back tomorrow and open Discover. The first posts and articles arrive after the next nightly update.

Your Discover source limit

Every brand has one shared limit for all its Discover sources. Each of these counts as one source:

• a social media account
• a website
• a web watchlist query
• a subreddit
• a Reddit search query

Need more? The Discover Source Pack add-on gives you 5 more sources for $5.99 a month. See Plans and Billing.

When you reach the limit

• The Add buttons on every tab turn off.
• A message at the top says Limit reached: “You’ve used the maximum of 6 discover sources allowed on your plan (across subreddits, queries, social accounts, websites, and watchlists). Pause or remove one, or upgrade to add more.”
• To add a new source, pause or remove one you don’t need, or upgrade your plan.

Pausing frees up a slot. Only active sources count toward your limit. A paused social account, website, web watchlist query, subreddit or Reddit search doesn’t count. Turning a paused source back on needs a free slot; if you’re at the limit you’ll see “Discover source limit reached” and it stays paused.

Signal Rules don’t count. You can create as many rules as you like.

Watch social media accounts

Use the Social Media tab to follow public accounts on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. Good picks are competitors, brands you admire, and leaders in your industry.

Add an account

1. Open your brand’s Discover tab and click Social Media.
2. Click Add.
3. Choose the Platform.
4. Type the Username, or paste the profile link.
5. Tick Mark as competitor if this account is a competitor. You can change it later.
6. Click Add Account. You’ll see “Social media account added successfully”.

Finding the right username

Copy the username from the account’s profile link. It’s the part after the site name:

You can type the username, add an @, or paste the whole profile link: Discover keeps just the username, in lower case. Usernames can use letters, numbers, dots, dashes and underscores; anything else shows “Enter a valid username or profile URL.” Discover can’t tell whether the account exists, so a misspelled name simply never gets any posts.

For LinkedIn, a name is looked up as a personal profile (linkedin.com/in/). To follow a company page, paste its linkedin.com/company/ link.

If the account is already active in your sources, you’ll see “… is already in your Discover sources.” Adding a paused account again turns it back on with the competitor choice you just made.

Manage your accounts

Hover over an account to see its controls (on a phone or tablet they’re always shown):

• Mark Competitor / Competitor: click to mark or unmark the account as a competitor. Competitors show a Competitor badge.
• The switch: pause or resume the account. A paused account shows Paused. Discover stops collecting its posts, and its posts leave your Discover feed until you turn it back on.
• The bin: asks you to confirm, then removes the account.

An account Discover couldn’t fully read shows a Restricted badge. Hover over it to see why.

Mark competitors

Every source type except Reddit has a Mark as competitor option. Use it so you and your team can tell competitors apart from inspiration accounts at a glance.

What the competitor mark does:

• The source shows a Competitor badge on the Discover tab.
• Social accounts marked as competitors can be picked in Analyze when you compare your own channel with competitors. Only competitor accounts appear there. See Compare Competitors.
• Competitor social accounts get their posts matched to your own content pillars and audiences, so you can compare topics in Analyze.

Example: A dental clinic follows two rival clinics and one popular dentist who makes educational videos. It marks the two clinics as competitors and leaves the dentist unmarked. In Analyze, only the two clinics appear as competitors to compare against.

Watch websites and blogs

Use the Websites tab to follow blogs, news sites and competitor websites. Each new article shows up in your Discover feed.

Add a website

1. Open your brand’s Discover tab and click Websites.
2. Click Add.
3. Paste the address into Website or Blog URL, starting with https://. For example, https://example.com/blog.
4. Tick Mark as competitor if it’s a competitor’s site.
5. Click Add Website.

Discover then looks for an RSS feed, which is a list of new articles that many blogs publish. You’ll see one of two messages:

• “Website added — RSS feed detected”. The site shows a badge like 1 feed. New articles are picked up from the feed.
• “Website added — monitoring for new pages”. No feed was found. The site shows Tracking new pages. Discover checks the page you entered for new links.

Add or remove feeds

Click a website to open its details. There you can:

• See the feeds Discover reads for this site.
• Add another feed by pasting its address into Add another RSS or Atom feed URL for this site… and clicking Add. Discover looks for a feed at that address. If it can’t find one, you’ll see “Couldn’t find an RSS feed at that URL”.
• Remove a feed with the bin next to it. If you remove every feed, Discover goes back to checking the page for new links.

Each website can have up to 5 feeds.

Example: A wedding planner adds https://example-weddingmag.com. No feed is found on the home page. They open the site’s details and paste https://example-weddingmag.com/real-weddings/feed. The site now shows 1 feed.

Manage your websites

Hover over a website to see its controls (always shown on touch screens):

• Mark Competitor / Competitor: mark or unmark it as a competitor.
• The switch: pause or resume it. Paused websites aren’t checked and their pages leave your Discover feed.
• The bin: asks you to confirm, then removes the website.

Run web searches with a Web Watchlist

Use the Web Watchlist tab to run a search across the open web every day: news sites, blogs, forums and more. It’s handy for topics, not specific accounts.

Add a watchlist query

1. Open your brand’s Discover tab and click Web Watchlist.
2. Click Add.
3. Type your Search Query, like you would in a search engine. For example, sustainable coffee brands.
4. Choose a Search Mode:
   • General: any kind of page.
   • News (recent/current events): news articles. A News badge shows on the query.
5. Tick Mark as competitor query if the search is about a competitor. For example, a competitor’s brand name.
6. Click Add Query.

Each query shows Not yet synced until its first daily check. After that it shows Last checked and the date.

What you get

Each day, Discover runs the search and keeps the top 10 results. Only results it hasn’t seen before are added to your feed. So a broad search that returns the same top pages every day adds little after the first day.

Example: A bike shop in Portland adds two queries: new bike lanes Portland in News mode, and best commuter bike 2026 in General mode. Each morning any new articles about either topic appear in its feed.

Pause or remove a query

Hover over the query. Use the switch to pause or resume it; a paused query shows Paused and isn’t searched. Click the bin and confirm to remove it. To change a query’s words, remove it and add it again. You can’t add the exact same query twice; you’ll see “This query is already on the watchlist”.

Watch subreddits and Reddit searches

Use the Reddit tab to follow Reddit communities and Reddit searches. Reddit is checked once a week, on Sundays.

Add a subreddit

1. Open your brand’s Discover tab. The Reddit tab opens first.
2. Under Subreddits, click Add.
3. Type the Subreddit Name, like smallbusiness. “r/” or a reddit.com link also works. Names must be 2–21 letters, numbers or underscores.
4. Click Add Subreddit.

Add a search query

1. Under Search Queries, click Add.
2. In Subreddit, keep Global (All of Reddit) to search all of Reddit, or pick one of your subreddits to search only inside it.
3. Type your Search Query. For example, content marketing tips.
4. Click Add Query.

You can only search inside subreddits you follow. The same search can’t be added twice; you’ll see “This search query is already being monitored”.

Tip: click a subreddit in the list first. When you then add a search query, that subreddit is already picked for you.

Each query shows Global or the subreddit it searches, like r/smallbusiness.

What you get

Each week, Discover collects a batch of the most relevant posts from the past month for your subreddits and searches. Adult (NSFW) posts are left out.

Manage Reddit sources

Hover over a subreddit or query to see its controls (always shown on touch screens):

• The switch: pause or resume it. A paused subreddit shows Paused.
• The bin: asks you to confirm, then removes it. Removing a subreddit also removes the search queries limited to it.

Signal Rules

The Signal Rules tab is where you tell Orsa AI what to watch for, in plain words. For example, “a competitor announcing new prices”. Each day, Orsa AI reads new content from the websites, web watchlists and social accounts you pick for the rule, and flags the items that match on the Signals tab in Discover.

A rule needs at least one source ticked. A rule with none shows “No sources selected — this rule will never run”. Rules don’t count toward your Discover source limit.

To create and manage rules, and to learn how to write good criteria, see Signals.

When new sources fill in

Discover doesn’t fetch anything the moment you add a source. It collects new content on a schedule:

• Social media accounts, websites and web watchlists: once a day, overnight.
• Reddit: once a week, on Sundays.

So a source you add today usually shows its first content tomorrow, and a subreddit can take up to a week. For the full schedule, see How Discover Updates.

Ideas for using Discover sources

Keep an eye on local competitors Add the Instagram or TikTok accounts of the businesses you compete with most. Mark them as competitors so you can compare against them in Analyze.

Example: A hair salon adds @rival_salon_downtown and @rival_salon_eastside on Instagram, both with Mark as competitor ticked. Their posts now appear in the salon’s Discover feed every morning.

Follow the blogs your customers read Add two or three industry blogs or magazines. New articles become ideas for your own posts.

Example: A pet groomer adds a pet-care magazine’s blog. When it publishes “5 signs your dog’s nails are too long”, the groomer turns it into a short Reel.

Watch a topic, not just an account Use a Web Watchlist query for news in your area or industry.

Example: A real estate agent adds Austin housing market in News mode.

Hear what people ask on Reddit Add the subreddit where your customers hang out, and a search query for your service.

Example: An accountant adds r/smallbusiness and the query bookkeeping inside it. Each week, new questions from small business owners show up in the feed.

Tips for the best results

Pick active accounts. Discover’s breakout posts need accounts that post regularly, at least 10 times in a month or two. An account that posts twice a month won’t show breakout posts. See Signals.

Spend your slots on what you’ll actually read. Every source uses one slot, whether it’s a busy Instagram account or a quiet subreddit. Start with your top 3 to 5 competitors, then add blogs and searches. Remove sources you never look at.

Point websites at the blog, not the home page. If no feed is found, Discover checks the page you entered for new links. The first check only notes the links already there, so menus aren’t reported as new pages. After that, a home page still adds new menu links as pages, so enter the blog or news page instead, like https://example.com/blog.

Keep watchlist queries specific. “Vegan bakery Chicago” finds more new pages over time than “bakery”. Discover keeps only the top 10 results each day, and only new ones are added.

Use the competitor mark consistently. Mark only real competitors. Analyze comparisons only offer accounts marked as competitors.

Double-check usernames. Paste the profile link if you’re unsure. A typo in a valid-looking name means the account never gets posts, and you won’t see an error.

Common questions

I added a source but nothing shows up yet. New sources fill in at the next scheduled update. Social accounts, websites and watchlists update once a day, overnight. Reddit updates once a week, on Sundays. See How Discover Updates.

The Add button is greyed out. You’ve reached your plan’s Discover source limit. Pause or remove a source you don’t need, buy a Discover Source Pack, or upgrade your plan. See Plans and Billing.

I can’t turn a paused source back on. Paused sources don’t count toward your limit, so turning one back on needs a free slot. Pause or remove another source first, or add more sources with a Discover Source Pack or a bigger plan.

An account I added never gets any posts.

• Check the username matches the profile link.
• Check the account is public. Discover can only read public accounts. Private or restricted accounts return few or no posts.
• Check the switch is on and the account doesn’t show Paused.
• Give it a day after adding.

I removed a source by mistake. There’s no undo after you confirm. Add it again. If you’re at your limit, the slot it used is free again, so you can re-add it.

Can I track a competitor’s LinkedIn company page? Yes. Paste the page’s linkedin.com/company/ link when you add it. A plain name is looked up as a personal profile.

My website shows “Tracking new pages” instead of a feed. No RSS feed was found at the address you entered. Discover will still find new pages by checking that page for new links. If you know the site has a feed, open the website’s details and add the feed’s address.

Can I add two pages from the same website? No. Each website can be added once; adding it again shows “… is already in your Discover sources.” To follow several sections of one site, open the website’s details and add each section’s feed.

Can I pause a web watchlist query? Yes. Use the switch next to the query. Like every other source, a paused watchlist query doesn’t count toward your limit, and turning it back on needs a free slot.

Who can change Discover sources? Anyone on the brand’s team can add, pause and remove sources.

Do my own social channels count as sources? No. Your own channels are set up separately on the brand’s Info tab, under Content Channels, and don’t use Discover slots. Discover is for other people’s accounts.