The Matrix — Market Activity at a Glance
What the Matrix is for
The Inbox shows you individual Updates. The Matrix shows you patterns: which source has been most active recently? Are your competitors’ priorities shifting toward new topics? How does your own output compare to the market?
The Matrix is a cross-tabulation — rows and columns intersect to form cells, and each cell has a color value. The color intensity encodes how much activity took place there. Look for bright cells (heavy activity), dark corners (quiet), and shifts over time.
How the Matrix is built
Every Matrix has three configurations that together determine what you see:
- View — what appears in rows and columns. For example, “Sources over time” (rows = sources, columns = months) or “Topics over time” (rows = update tags, columns = weeks).
- Time range — which period is shown at which granularity (day, week, month, quarter).
- Metric — how the color intensity is calculated. “Row share” is the default; alternatives are absolute counts, share of the grand total, or a comparison against a reference period.
On top of that you can filter the result: by folder (Inbox, Saved, or both), by ownership (your own vs. competitors), by source, channel type, tags, or free-text search.
What the three axes are for
Choosing the View defines the question:
- “Who was active when?” → rows are sources, columns are time.
- “Which topic was important when?” → rows are update tags, columns are time.
- “Which source covers which topic?” → rows are sources, columns are update tags.
- “How is activity distributed across categories?” → rows grouped by source tag.
The Metric defines the perspective on that same question. Share values put the numbers in relation — a source with five posts looks different when it spends 100% of its time budget on one topic than when five of a hundred posts go to that topic. The Δ against the reference period reveals shifts: where is there more going on today than three months ago?
When to use the Matrix
- Monthly review: who has become conspicuous? Where is activity shifting?
- Before a meeting: a quick picture of “who has been doing what lately” — instead of scrolling through single Updates.
- Strategy discussion: shows your own activity next to the market (with the “Market comparison” metric).
- Content planning: spot topics where competitor activity is climbing but you have not published yet.
For day-to-day work the Inbox stays the tool of choice — that is where you evaluate individual Updates. The Matrix uses the same Updates, only aggregated.
What you do not see in the Matrix
- Individual Update content. Clicking a cell opens the Inbox with the matching filter — there you see the Updates.
- Forecasts or recommendations. The Matrix shows facts, not an AI verdict. For interpretations use the AI reports from the Inbox.
- Updates in the Dropped folder — dropped items do not count.