---

name: trend-monitor description: | Scan data science and tech news sources for timely content ideas. Use daily or weekly to discover trending topics, emerging tools, and conversation starters for tacosdedatos content. Returns pitch candidates ranked by relevance and timeliness.

Trend Monitor

Discover what the data science community is talking about right now.

When to Use This Skill

Use on a regular cadence:

• Daily: Quick scan for breaking news and viral discussions
• Weekly: Deep scan for emerging trends and content opportunities
• Ad-hoc: When planning content calendar or looking for inspiration

Sources to Monitor

Primary Sources (Data Science Focus)

Secondary Sources

LATAM-Specific Sources

Monitoring Process

Step 1: Source Scan

For each source, look for:

CopySIGNALS TO TRACK:
├── 🔥 High engagement (upvotes, comments, shares)
├── 📈 Rapid growth (trending, viral)
├── ❓ Unanswered questions (content gaps)
├── 🆕 New releases (tools, libraries, updates)
├── 💬 Active debates (controversial topics)
└── 🇲🇽 LATAM relevance (Spanish content needs)

Step 2: Relevance Filtering

Score each finding against tacosdedatos criteria:

Step 3: Pitch Generation

For top candidates, generate pitch summaries:

Copy## Trend: [Topic Name]

**Source**: [Where discovered]
**Signal strength**: 🔥🔥🔥 (1-5 fires)
**Timeliness**: [Breaking / This week / Emerging]

**What's happening**:
[2-3 sentence summary]

**Why it matters for our audience**:
[Connection to tacosdedatos readers]

**Potential angles**:
1. [Angle 1 - e.g., tutorial]
2. [Angle 2 - e.g., opinion piece]
3. [Angle 3 - e.g., comparison]

**Competition check**:
- [Existing content on this topic]
- [Our differentiation opportunity]

**Recommended action**: [Write now / Queue for next week / Monitor]

Output Format

Daily Scan Output

Copy# Trend Monitor: [Date]

## 🔥 Hot Right Now (Act Today)

### 1. [Trend Name]
- **Source**: [Reddit/HN/Twitter]
- **Signal**: [X upvotes / X comments / trending]
- **Quick take**: [One sentence]
- **Action**: [Suggested response]

### 2. [Trend Name]
...

## 📈 Building Momentum (This Week)

### 1. [Trend Name]
...

## 👀 Worth Watching (Monitor)

- [Topic 1]: [Why watching]
- [Topic 2]: [Why watching]

## 📊 Source Stats

| Source | Items Scanned | Relevant | Hot |
|--------|---------------|----------|-----|
| Reddit | X | X | X |
| HN | X | X | X |
| Twitter | X | X | X |

Weekly Deep Scan Output

Copy# Weekly Trend Report: [Week of Date]

## Executive Summary

**Top opportunity**: [Best content idea this week]
**Emerging theme**: [Pattern across sources]
**Community mood**: [What people are feeling]

## Pitch Candidates (Ranked)

### 🥇 Priority 1: [Topic]
[Full pitch summary - see template above]

### 🥈 Priority 2: [Topic]
[Full pitch summary]

### 🥉 Priority 3: [Topic]
[Full pitch summary]

## Trend Analysis

### What's Rising
- [Trend 1]: [Why it's growing]
- [Trend 2]: [Why it's growing]

### What's Fading
- [Topic 1]: [Why declining interest]
- [Topic 2]: [Why declining interest]

### Evergreen Opportunities
- [Topic that's always relevant]
- [Topic that's always relevant]

## LATAM-Specific Insights

### Spanish Content Gaps
- [Topic with no good Spanish coverage]
- [Topic with no good Spanish coverage]

### Regional Trends
- [LATAM-specific trend]
- [Mexico-specific trend]

## Recommended Content Calendar

| Day | Topic | Type | Why Now |
|-----|-------|------|---------|
| Mon | [Topic] | Tutorial | [Reason] |
| Wed | [Topic] | Opinion | [Reason] |
| Fri | [Topic] | Roundup | [Reason] |

## Sources Summary

### Most Active This Week
1. [Source]: [Key discussion]
2. [Source]: [Key discussion]

### New Sources Discovered
- [New blog/newsletter/account to follow]

Search Queries

Reddit Searches

Copy# r/datascience
site:reddit.com/r/datascience [topic] after:2024-01-01
sort:top time:week

# Cross-subreddit
(site:reddit.com/r/datascience OR site:reddit.com/r/Python) [topic]

Hacker News Searches

Copy# Via Algolia HN Search
https://hn.algolia.com/?q=[topic]&type=story&dateRange=pastWeek&sort=byPopularity

# Show HN launches
https://hn.algolia.com/?q=show%20hn%20[topic]&type=story

Twitter/X Searches

Copy# Trending in data science
(data science OR machine learning OR python) min_faves:100 lang:en
(ciencia de datos OR aprendizaje automático) min_faves:50 lang:es

# From specific accounts
from:@account [topic]

GitHub Trending

Copy# Trending Python repos
https://github.com/trending/python?since=weekly

# Topic-specific
https://github.com/topics/[topic]?o=desc&s=stars

Automation Ideas

Daily Automated Checks

Copy# Potential automation (for future MCP integration)
schedule: "0 6 * * *"  # 6 AM daily

sources:
  reddit:
    subreddits: [datascience, Python, MachineLearning]
    sort: hot
    limit: 25

  hackernews:
    type: topstories
    limit: 30
    filter: [data, python, ml, ai]

  twitter:
    lists: [data-science-influencers]
    min_engagement: 100

output:
  format: markdown
  destination: daily-trends.md
  notify: true

Integration with Pipeline

Trend Monitor feeds into the content pipeline:

Copytrend-monitor
    ↓
[Pitch candidates]
    ↓
tacosdedatos-pipeline (Phase 1: Ideation)
    ↓
[Human selects from candidates]
    ↓
[Content production begins]

Quality Checklist

Before reporting a trend:

• Verified across multiple sources?
• Not just one viral post?
• Relevant to tacosdedatos audience?
• We can add unique value?
• Timing makes sense?
• Not already covered recently?

Anti-Patterns

Related Skills

• tacosdedatos-pipeline — Full content production
• beat-reporter agent — Research and drafting
• content-to-social — Distribution after creation