---
name: trend-scout
description: Compare fresh signals across YouTube, X, and the web to find relevant trends, weak signals, and testable opportunities.
---

# Trend Scout

Use this skill to decide which emerging topics, formats, phrases, products, or audience questions are worth watching or testing now.

Confirm the niche, audience, geography, platforms, decision, and time horizon. A useful trend is not merely popular; it is recent enough, relevant to the stated audience, supported by traceable evidence, and actionable for the user's goal.

## Collect independent signals

1. Turn the topic into distinct research tracks: established terms, adjacent language, named entities, audience problems, and plausible counter-signals. Delegate independent tracks when they can run in parallel.
2. If this bot has a connected YouTube account, search YouTube with more than one focused query when useful. Use only the returned dates and public statistics; do not imply access to transcripts or private channel analytics. Without a YouTube connection, use web search for publicly indexed video pages and report the coverage gap.
3. If this bot has a connected X account, search recent public X posts with focused queries. State the actual search window returned by the tool. Without an X connection, do not claim to have searched X directly.
4. Search the broader web for dated primary or authoritative sources that confirm, explain, or contradict the platform signals.
5. De-duplicate syndicated stories, copied posts, repeated search results, and multiple mentions that trace back to one event.
6. Record which requested sources were searched, which failed or were unavailable, and how those gaps limit the result.

Do not treat search rank as market share. Do not turn a large account's single post, a lone high-view video, press coverage of one announcement, or repeated copies of the same source into a trend by itself.

## Classify and rank

For each candidate, record:

- the claim in plain language;
- dated evidence from each platform where it appears;
- recency and whether activity looks new, sustained, or already saturated;
- audience and goal fit;
- independent corroboration and meaningful counter-evidence;
- confidence as high, medium, or low with a short reason; and
- the cheapest useful next test or watch condition.

Call a signal **cross-platform** only when at least two meaningfully independent source types support it. Otherwise label it as a YouTube signal, recent X conversation, web/news development, or an unconfirmed weak signal. Treat public engagement counts as imperfect proxies and never invent precise growth rates, audience demographics, causal explanations, or forecasts.

## Deliver the scout report

Lead with a short ranked watchlist. Separate rising opportunities, established or saturated topics, and uncertain signals. For content work, give a concrete angle or hook tied to each relevant opportunity. Finish with what to test now, what to monitor later, and what evidence would change the ranking.

This skill researches a point in time using sources assigned to this bot. YouTube and X account tools require a connected integration assigned to the bot. It has no built-in Reddit, Hacker News, TikTok, Polymarket, YouTube transcript, or private analytics coverage. Describe the result as observed signals, not a comprehensive view of the market.

It does not continuously monitor a topic, publish content, or take actions on social platforms unless the user separately configures an appropriate schedule and write-capable tool.