Conversations

Overview

Conversations (/conversations) searches external platforms for discussions that may influence how AI systems understand your category. Pick a keyword or use case from your company profile, choose platforms and a time range, and Obsurfable finds relevant threads on Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more.

Results are saved as grouped searches. Open any search to review links, annotate high-signal threads, and jump to Generate response for on-brand reply drafts.

Who it's for

• Pro and Agency users researching where your brand or category is discussed online
• Community and growth marketers finding threads worth participating in
• Content teams discovering external narratives that AI may cite alongside owned pages

Prerequisites

1. A Pro (or Agency) plan—Conversations is not available on Free.
2. Completed onboarding with a company profile.
3. At least one keyword or use case on the Company page—these power the search phrase dropdown.
4. (Recommended) Competitors configured so you can spot third-party discussions that mention alternatives.

Step-by-step

Run a conversation search

1. Go to Conversations in the sidebar or navigate to /conversations.
2. In Find conversations, select a keyword or use case from the dropdown (sourced from your Company page).
3. Choose a time range—Any time, Past 24 hours, Past week, Past month, or Past year (default: Past week).
4. Check the platforms you want to search—Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Medium, Substack, X, Facebook, Pinterest, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Hacker News.
5. Click Find conversations.
6. Obsurfable searches each selected platform and adds new discussion links to your workspace.

Review search results

1. After a search completes, open it from Previous searches at /conversations/[id].
2. Browse entries by platform, title, snippet, and relevance.
3. Click external links to read the full thread on the source platform.
4. Use Annotate on any entry to capture observations—notes appear in your central Annotations feed.

Export and act on findings

1. On /conversations, click Export CSV to download all saved links across searches.
2. For a specific thread, use Generate response from the conversation detail page to draft an on-brand reply.
3. Save especially useful sources to Scrapbook for ongoing reference.

Repeat for new topics

1. Add or refine keywords and use cases on the Company page as your positioning evolves.
2. Run new searches when launching products, entering markets, or after Monitor surfaces competitor citations from third-party sites.
3. Compare results across time ranges to catch fresh discussions.

Tips

• Start with Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, and YouTube—these are heavily indexed and frequently cited in AI answers.
• Narrow platforms when you know where your audience congregates; use Select all for broad category research.
• Default time range is Past week—widen to Past month or Past year for evergreen topics with less daily volume.
• Annotate threads with why they matter (competitor mention, misconception, content angle)—your future self and teammates will thank you.
• Pair Conversations with prompt runs: when AI cites a forum thread you do not own, search for related discussions and plan participation or counter-content.

FAQ

Is Conversations available on the Free plan?

No. Conversations requires Pro or Agency. Free users can still use Scrapbook and Annotations.

Which platforms does Obsurfable search?

Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Medium, Substack, X (Twitter), Facebook, Pinterest, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Hacker News. Select one or more before each search.

Why is the keyword dropdown empty?

Add at least one keyword or use case on the Company page. Conversations searches using phrases from your configured profile, not free-text queries.

What happens when I click Find conversations?

Obsurfable runs a platform-scoped web search for your phrase, deduplicates URLs, and saves new discussion links. Previously saved URLs are not duplicated across searches.

Can I search with my own custom phrase?

Not directly—the phrase must come from your configured keywords or use cases. Add the phrase on the Company page first, then return to Conversations.

How do annotations on conversation entries work?

Open a search at /conversations/[id], click Annotate on any entry, and save a note. The note appears on the entry and in your unified Annotations feed with a link back to the source.

Can I export all conversation links?

Yes. Click Export CSV on /conversations to download query, platform, title, URL, and relevance snippet for all saved entries.

How does this connect to Generate response?

From a conversation entry, use Generate response to draft an on-brand reply based on the thread context—useful for Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn engagement without starting from a blank page.