A fairly common question I get is "Why Do I Need Intelligence Channels?"  This is often followed by the "How do I do it?" question (part 2).

"Why Do I Need Intelligence Channels?"

1. To keep up with your market
   Pull a news search feed on your market terms.  You’ll get real-time news, private news, on what’s happening in the world of (insert your market here).
2. To keep up with your competitors
   Make a spy search feed on your competitor’s name.  Now you’ll know what he’s doing well and what he NOT doing well.  This will help you stay on top of what he’s doing so you can implement the correct offensive strategy.
3. To keep up with yourself
   You can’t really syndicate a name feed on the public side of your site.  There are some posts about yourself that you just may not want to see the light of day.  Configure your intelligence feeds so that you are pulling the news on your company so you can instantly address those comments and news stories.