📡 Newsdesk

The Newsdesk turns your Study Room into a living news hub — pulling in RSS feeds, AI-powered research, and live news queries so your members stay informed without leaving the room.

👑 For Owners🛡️ For Moderators📖 For Readers📡 RSS Feeds🔬 AI Research

On this page

What is the Newsdesk?
For Owners — enabling the Newsdesk
For Owners — adding RSS feeds
For Owners — AI research topics
For Owners — live news queries
For Owners — social follows
For Moderators — managing the Newsdesk
For Readers — browsing the Newsdesk
For Readers — bookmarking articles
For Readers — discussing articles
For Readers — adding articles to the bookshelf
FAQ

📡

What is the Newsdesk?

The Newsdesk is a newspaper-style dashboard inside your Study Room that aggregates content from three sources:

📡 RSS Feeds

Subscribe to any RSS feed — news sites, blogs, YouTube channels, Reddit communities, Substack newsletters, podcasts, and more. New content appears automatically as it is published.

🔬 AI Research

Set up recurring AI research topics powered by Perplexity. The platform runs deep research on your topics and delivers structured results with sources and key findings.

📰 Live News

Configure live news queries that pull from Google News RSS and NewsAPI. Great for tracking breaking stories on specific topics.

ℹ️The Newsdesk must be enabled by the room owner before anyone can use it. If you do not see the 📡 Newsdesk link in your room's navigation, ask your room owner to turn it on in Settings.

👑

For Owners — enabling the Newsdesk

Open Room Settings

Go to your Study Room and click Settings in the room navigation bar. Only room owners can access Newsdesk settings.

Navigate to News Desk settings

In the Settings sidebar, click News Desk. This is where you control everything about the Newsdesk.

Enable the Newsdesk

Toggle Enable News Deskto ON. This makes the 📡 Newsdesk link appear in your room's navigation for all members. Until this is enabled, no one (including you) can see the Newsdesk.

Enable feeds

Toggle Enable Feeds to ON. This activates the RSS feed engine for your room. You need both this and the main Newsdesk toggle enabled for feeds to work.

Optional: Enable NewsAPI

If you have a NewsAPI key configured at the platform level, you can toggle Enable NewsAPI to allow live news queries in your room. This is optional — RSS feeds and AI research work without it.

💡Pro tip: Start with just RSS feeds. Get comfortable with the basics before adding AI research topics or live news queries. You can always add more sources later.

📡

For Owners — adding RSS feeds

RSS feeds are the backbone of the Newsdesk. You can subscribe to nearly any site on the internet — news outlets, blogs, YouTube channels, Reddit communities, Substack newsletters, and podcasts all publish RSS feeds.

Go to News Desk settings

From your room, navigate to Settings → News Desk and click Add Feed.

Paste a feed URL

Paste the URL of the feed you want to follow. The platform auto-resolves YouTube channel URLs, Reddit subreddit URLs, and Substack URLs — no need to hunt for the raw RSS feed.

Preview and confirm

Click Preview Feed to verify the content before subscribing. You will see sample articles so you know exactly what you are adding. Then click Add Feed to Study Room.

Organise with display names and categories

Give each feed a Display Name(e.g. “Baseball News”) and assign a Category(e.g. “Sports”). Categories group feeds in the Newsdesk sidebar, making it easy for members to filter by topic.

🌐 What you can subscribe to

▶️

YouTube Channels

Paste the channel URL directly. The platform resolves it automatically. New videos appear with thumbnail, title, and description.

🤖

Reddit Communities

Append .rss to any subreddit URL. Great for following hobbyist and collector communities.

📩

Substack Newsletters

Any Substack author's public posts are available at https://author.substack.com/feed.

📝

WordPress & Blogs

Most blogs expose feeds at /feed, /rss, or /atom.

🎙️

Podcasts

Every podcast is an RSS feed. Paste the podcast's RSS URL directly — find it on the podcast's website or a directory like podcastindex.org.

🗞️

News Sites

Most major news and sports sites have topic-specific RSS feeds. Look in the site footer or try appending /feed.

⚠️Some platforms have removed RSS — Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook do not offer RSS feeds. If a creator you follow also posts on YouTube or Substack, subscribe to those instead.

🔬

For Owners — AI research topics

AI research topics let you set up automated deep research on subjects that matter to your room. The platform uses Perplexity to run recurring research and delivers structured results with sources and key findings.

Create a research topic

In Settings → News Desk, scroll to the AI Research section and click Add Research Topic.

Define the topic

Give your topic a title and a detailed description. The description is the prompt sent to the AI — be specific about what you want researched. For example: “Latest developments in the Paul Fronczak kidnapping case, including DNA evidence updates and investigative journalism published in the last 30 days.”

Set the update frequency

Choose how often the research runs — daily, weekly, or monthly. More frequent updates are better for fast-moving topics; less frequent is fine for background knowledge.

Review results

Research results appear in the 🔬 AI Research tab of the Newsdesk. Each result includes a headline, summary, key findings, and linked sources. You can pin particularly important results to feature them at the top.

💡AI research uses platform credits. Check your subscription plan for credit limits. Research topics with higher priority run first when credits are constrained.

📰

For Owners — live news queries

Live news queries pull fresh articles from Google News RSS (always available, no API key needed) and NewsAPI (requires platform-level configuration). These are great for tracking breaking stories.

Add a news query

In Settings → News Desk, find the News Queries section and click Add Query.

Configure the query

Enter a display name (shown as a tab in the Newsdesk) and the search query — use the same keywords you would type into Google News. Set the max age to control how far back to search (1–30 days).

Choose the source

Select Google News RSS (free, always works) or NewsAPI (requires the room owner to enable NewsAPI in settings). Google News RSS is a great default.

ℹ️Google News RSS queries are free and always available. NewsAPI queries may be subject to plan limits depending on the platform's API tier.

🛡️

For Moderators — managing the Newsdesk

Moderators can manage feeds and curate the Newsdesk experience. While only the owner can enable/disable the Newsdesk itself, moderators have full access to feed management.

⏯️ Pause and reactivate feeds

Temporarily pause a feed without losing its history or configuration. Useful when a source goes off-topic. Reactivate it with one click when you want it back.

📌 Pin articles

Pin an important article to feature it at the top of the Newsdesk, above the chronological feed. Pinned articles stay until you unpin them or pin a different one. Perfect for highlighting must-read stories.

🔢 Reorder and limit feeds

Drag feeds to reorder them in the sidebar. Set a max articles limit per feed to prevent one prolific source from burying others in the timeline.

🔄 Force-refresh feeds

If you are expecting new content and do not want to wait for the next sync cycle, force-refresh a feed to pull new articles immediately.

💬 Moderate discussions

When members discuss an article, a Post is created in the room's Posts tab. Moderators can manage these discussions the same way they manage any other room post — edit, delete, or pin as needed.

ℹ️Moderators can do everything with feeds that owners can, except enable/disable the Newsdesk itself and enable/disable NewsAPI. Those toggles are owner-only.

📖

For Readers — browsing the Newsdesk

The Newsdesk is designed to feel like a newspaper. When you open it, you will see:

📰 Newspaper header

The room name, cover image, and today's date displayed in a classic newspaper style — giving the Newsdesk a distinctive, immersive feel.

🗂️ Source tabs

Tabs at the top let you switch between All (interleaved chronological view), 🔬 AI Research (deep research results), and individual 📡 RSS feeds. Click any tab to filter.

🃏 Article cards

Each article appears as a card with the title, source, author, publication date, and a preview of the content. Click the title to read the full article on the original site.

📋 Sidebar

The sidebar lists all available feeds grouped by category, plus social follow links and pinned content. Click any feed to jump straight to its articles.

🔖

For Readers — bookmarking articles

Find an article you want to save

Browse the Newsdesk and find an article that interests you. Each article card has action buttons at the bottom.

Click the bookmark icon

Click the 🔖 Bookmark button on the article card. The article is saved to your personal bookmarks for this room. Bookmarked articles show a filled bookmark icon.

View your bookmarks

Your bookmarks are always accessible from the Newsdesk. Click the bookmarks filter to see only articles you have saved. You can also access them from your Home Room feed.

💡Bookmarks are personal — only you can see your bookmarked articles. Other members do not see what you have saved.

💬

For Readers — discussing articles

Every article in the Newsdesk can spark a conversation. The discussion system is seamlessly integrated with the room's Posts tab.

Click Discuss on any article

Each article card has a 💬 Discuss button. Click it to open the discussion page for that article.

Write your first comment

When you write your first top-level comment, a Postis automatically created in the room's Posts tab — with the article as the subject and your comment as the first reply. This means your discussion is visible to the whole room, not just Newsdesk readers.

Join existing discussions

If someone has already started a discussion, you will see the comment count on the article card. Click Discuss to join the conversation. All comments land on the same Post — no duplicates.

ℹ️Discussions flow both ways: comments made on the Post in the Posts tab also appear in the Newsdesk discussion view. It is the same conversation, just accessible from two places.

📚

For Readers — adding articles to the bookshelf

Found an article so valuable it belongs in the room's permanent collection? Add it to the bookshelf.

Click Add to Bookshelf

On any article card, click the 📚 Add to Bookshelf button. This opens a confirmation dialog.

Confirm the addition

The article is added to the room's bookshelf as a Work record with a link back to the original source. Once on the bookshelf, it can be discussed, annotated, and referenced like any other room work.

Find it on the bookshelf

Go to the room's Bookshelftab to see the article alongside books, documents, and other works. It is now part of the room's permanent knowledge base.

💡Adding articles to the bookshelf is a great way to build a curated reference library. Over time, your room's bookshelf becomes a rich collection of the most important articles your community has found.

❓

FAQ

▶Why don't I see the Newsdesk link in my room?

The room owner must enable the Newsdesk in Settings → News Desk. Both the 'Enable News Desk' and 'Enable Feeds' toggles must be ON. If you are the owner, check your settings. If you are a member, ask the owner to enable it.

▶How often do RSS feeds update?

Feeds sync on a regular schedule — typically every 1–6 hours depending on the feed's priority. You can force-refresh a feed from Settings → News Desk if you need new content immediately.

▶Can I subscribe to a site that does not have an RSS feed?

Most sites have RSS feeds even if they do not advertise them. Try appending /feed, /rss, or /atom to the site's URL. Use the Preview Feed button to test before subscribing. Some platforms (Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook) have intentionally removed RSS — there is no workaround for these.

▶What is the difference between AI Research and Live News?

AI Research uses Perplexity to run deep, structured research on a topic and returns a summary with key findings and sources. Live News pulls real-time article headlines from Google News RSS or NewsAPI based on keyword queries. AI Research is analytical; Live News is chronological.

▶Do AI research topics cost credits?

Yes. AI research uses platform AI credits. The cost per research run depends on the depth and frequency. Check your subscription plan for credit limits. Live News queries via Google News RSS are free.

▶Can I remove an article from the bookshelf?

Yes. Articles added to the bookshelf can be removed like any other work. Go to the Bookshelf tab, find the article, and use the remove option. Removing it from the bookshelf does not delete it from the Newsdesk.

▶Who can see my bookmarked articles?

Only you. Bookmarks are private — no other member, moderator, or owner can see what you have bookmarked.

Ready to explore the Newsdesk?

Visit the Newsdesk in the example room below, or head to your own Study Room to set up feeds and start curating news for your community.

📡 View Example Newsdesk →📚 Study Rooms Tutorial 📄 Room Documents Guide