As competition from newcomers like Bluesky and Threads increases, X on Monday launched a “Radar” trend analysis tool that aims to offer subscribers real-time insights into emerging trends and conversations on the platform.
The tool, previously known as Insights, was initially targeted at Verified Organizations (businesses), allowing marketers to track topics and trends on the app. If subscribed, marketers could perform keyword analytics, visualize trend activity, and filter conversations in real time. In addition to tracking conversation volume over time, Radar can also track conversation velocity. Its features help marketers better understand trends on X and could help them plan the best time to post to reach their desired audience.
While Insights could have potentially replaced the need for a third-party trend-tracking tool, its price point — $1,000 per month or $833.33 per month if billed annually — had put it out of reach for smaller businesses.
Now rebranded as Radar, X’s trend analysis tool will begin rolling out to Premium+ subscribers, starting Monday. This high-end subscription on X offers a handful of extra features like a verified checkmark, the ability to edit posts, an ad-free experience, and more for $16 per month or $168 per year, when subscribing via the web.
Today, we’re expanding the roll-out of Radar, our real-time trend analysis tool (formerly known as Insights).
With Radar, you can be among the first to spot emerging trends as they happen.
Access is rolling out to select Premium+ users starting today. This is an early version… pic.twitter.com/OO4ye4WIoX
— Premium (@premium) October 18, 2024
In a post on X, the company notes that Radar will be released as an early version with more updates on the way. However, only select subscribers will immediately gain access to Radar, X says.
Though officially announced Monday, some had already spotted Radar’s arrival earlier this month, teasing it as a more powerful search tool.
Earlier adopters of the new Radar search feature have commented that its search algorithm is much improved, but at least one user pointed to remaining issues, like the inability to search further back than three days. Other improvements they suggested include more filtering options and integration with X Pro, the desktop X app that used to be known as Tweetdeck.