Listening troubleshooting
The messages Listening shows, why they appear, and what to do: query errors, previews that find nothing or too much, topics that are paused, capped or failing, and sentiment or insights that are missing.
Writing a query
"This mixes AND and OR without brackets, and tools read that differently."
Your query has AND and OR at the same level, such as Gymshark leggings OR shorts. Tools disagree on which goes first, so add brackets to say which you mean: Gymshark (leggings OR shorts).
"This closing bracket has no opening bracket." / "This bracket is never closed."
The brackets don't pair up. Count them, or remove the extra one.
"NOT needs something to exclude after it."
NOT (or -) is at the end, or before a bracket that's empty. Put the word to leave out straight after it: Gymshark -jobs.
"Wildcards go inside one word, such as run* or te?m."
A * or ? can't stand alone or sit inside quotes. Attach it to a word.
"NEAR can span at most 50 words."
Use a number from 0 to 50 after NEAR/.
"A hashtag is # followed by letters, digits or underscores."
Remove spaces and punctuation from the hashtag: #gymsharkwomen, not #gymshark women.
"Queries can be up to 8192 characters long…"
The query is too long. Move long lists of words into fewer, broader terms, or split it into two topics.
"That's a lot of checks in a minute. It reads it again in N seconds."
Queries are checked as you type, up to a limit a minute. Wait, and it checks again on its own.
"That doesn't say what to listen for. Name a brand, a product or a topic."
Describe it needs something to listen for. Name the brand, product or subject, such as complaints about Monzo's app.
A platform logo has an amber dot, or says it can't search it
An amber dot means the platform searches only part of the query, usually its terms; every post it finds is still checked against the whole query. "Can't search it" means nothing in the query can be searched there, such as a query that's only a field the platform doesn't have. See Choose what each platform searches.
Previews
The preview found nothing on a platform
Its note under Where it's said says why. No mentions in the latest N posts. means it read that many recent posts and none matched; try broader words, or raise Spend to read further back. Reached your credit limit before finding any. means its share of the limit ran out: raise Spend.
Lots of posts aren't about my brand
The name has other meanings. Make the query more specific, or turn on Insights with About set to the name and what it is. See Fewer posts that aren't about it.
"Might match: … so that part of the query wasn't checked."
Your query checks something, such as a language, that the platform doesn't return for that post. The rest matched, so it's shown and marked. If you only want posts that certainly match, leave that part out of the query.
"Ran out of time, so it may have missed some. What it found is shown."
A preview has about a minute; that platform didn't finish. What it found is kept. Previewing again usually completes it.
"The platform didn't answer just now. Preview again later."
That platform failed this time, and wasn't charged. Preview again later.
"The search couldn't be reached. Search again: if it already ran, you get its results without being charged again."
The connection dropped. Search again: a preview that already ran returns its results, uncharged.
"Your balance can't cover…" / Buy credits
A search sets aside its whole limit while it runs. Lower Spend below your balance, or buy credits. See Running out of credits.
"Your role can't spend the workspace's credits, so it can check and write queries but not search them."
Your workspace role can't spend credits. Ask an owner or admin for a role that can. See Teams and workspaces.
Topics
"This workspace keeps no request content, so it can't save a query: a saved query keeps the posts it matches."
Your workspace has Zero retention on, and a topic's job is to keep posts. You can still preview. To keep listening, turn Zero retention off on the app's Settings page. An existing topic pauses: This workspace keeps no request content, so a saved query can't store its matches. Turn that off to resume it.
"This workspace already has 100 saved queries, the most it may have. Delete one first."
A workspace can have 100 topics. Delete one you no longer need.
The topic shows Capped: "This month's credit cap is spent: it runs again next month, or raise the cap."
Its Monthly cap is used up. It runs again on the 1st (UTC). To run sooner, raise the cap (or empty it for no cap) in the topic's Settings.
"Running it now could pass this month's credit cap of N: raise the cap to run it."
Run now would take it past its cap. Wait for its next scheduled run next month, or raise the cap in Settings.
The topic shows Failing: "Its last 5 runs failed. Resume it to try again."
Five runs in a row failed, so it stopped. Its Runs tab says why each failed; the usual reason is Not enough credits to run it. Fix that (add credits), then click Resume.
"Not enough credits to run it."
Your balance couldn't cover the run's credits per run when it started. Add credits; the next run tries again.
"It's paused: resume it first."
Click Resume before Run now.
"The API key it was created with no longer works. Save it again with a working key, or from the app."
The topic was saved through the API with a key that's since been deleted, so it paused. Save it again from the app, or with a working key.
"The API key it was created with has reached its monthly credit limit."
The topic was saved through the API, and its runs count toward that key's monthly limit, which is used up. Raise the key's limit on API keys, or save the topic again from the app.
"Nothing yet: the first run is still searching." / "No posts matched yet."
The first run takes up to about a minute after you save. After that, a topic with no posts simply hasn't heard anything new: each run searches what's new since the last one.
I can't change the query or schedule in Settings
Settings in the app changes the credits per run, monthly cap, briefing, alert, Leave out, sentiment and insights. To change the query or schedule, save a new topic with them (and delete the old one), or update it through the saved queries API.
Sentiment and insights
"Insights on X of Y posts. The rest couldn't be given them this time, and weren't charged for it."
Some posts couldn't be judged in time, or your balance, key limit or the topic's cap didn't cover them. Those posts weren't charged. The same goes for sentiment. On a topic, posts found while the option was off have none.
"Insights aren't available with zero data retention…"
A workspace with Zero retention on can't send posts to be judged. Nothing is charged.
"Insights need to know what it's about"
Fill in About: the name and what it is, such as Gymshark, the UK gymwear brand.
A post is marked Not about it but it is about my brand
On a topic, open the post's ⋯ menu and clear Not about it. Your choice stays, and the topic's counts and alerts follow it. In a preview, look under Not about it to check them.
If you need help with something not listed here, contact support.
Costs and limits
What Listening spends credits on, the limits you set on a preview and on each run, a topic's monthly cap, sentiment and insights, how to spend less, and Listening's other limits.
X Follower Tracker
Track any public X account in the Social Fetch app: follower growth, who followed, who left and who came back, with a searchable audience. No code needed.