Explore public feedback by topic with Topic Dashboards

At a Glance

Topic Dashboards consolidate resident feedback from multiple sources into a single view for each issue area (topic). Department teams can quickly understand what residents are saying about specific topics like Parks, Transportation, or Police, making it easier to monitor community sentiment and inform decision-making.

Available to: Clients with the Listen module active

Access a Topic Dashboard

Topic Dashboards are accessed through the Topics page, which serves as your central hub for exploring all core topics in your community. Core Topics are standardized topics that are automatically provisioned across all Zencity workspaces. These topics represent the essential areas of local government that communities consistently discuss.

To open a Topic Dashboard:

1. Navigate to Topics from the main menu in Zencity OS
2. Browse the list of available core topics
3. Click on any core topic name to open its dedicated dashboard (a “lock” icon appears next to a core topic) 

You'll arrive at the Topic Dashboard for your selected topic, showing consolidated feedback from across all connected data sources.

Understand the Summary tab

The Summary tab provides a high-level overview of resident sentiment and feedback patterns for the selected topic. This tab is designed to give you quick insights without needing to review individual feedback items.

Filter by time range

At the top of the Summary tab, you'll see a Range filter set to "Last 30 days" by default. Click this filter to adjust the time period:

• Today
• Yesterday
• Last 7 days
• Last 30 days
• Last 365 days
• Custom (select specific start and end dates)

All content in the Summary tab updates based on your selected time range.

AI-generated summary

When sufficient data is available, you'll see an AI-generated summary at the top of the Summary tab. This summary synthesizes key themes and sentiment patterns from recent social media conversations about the topic.

What the summary includes:

• Main themes residents are discussing
• Notable shifts in conversation or sentiment
• Representative quotes from residents
• Percentage breakdowns of key topics mentioned

The AI summary is updated daily and reflects social media data from the last 7 days only. If there isn't enough recent social media activity about this topic, the summary section will not appear.

Signal Tracker

Below the summary, the Signal Tracker shows data volume across your active modules for the selected topic and time range. Each module card displays:

• Official Social Media: Interactions on your city's official social media accounts
• Unofficial Social Media: Mentions and conversations on social media not from official accounts
• News Items: News articles related to this topic
• Survey Responses: Survey submissions related to this topic
• Direct Channel Items: 311 tickets, emails, and other direct feedback channels

Each card shows the current item count and how it compares to the previous period (percentage change and directional indicator).

Recent Actions

The Recent Actions widget displays recent city activities related to this topic, including:

• Surveys published or closed (Ask module)
• Posts published on official social media (Listen and Communicate modules)
• Engagement pages created (Communicate module)

Each action card shows the action type, status, key metrics (like response count or interaction count), and timestamp.

Explore detailed feedback in the Feed

The Feed tab shows all individual feedback items related to the topic, allowing you to review specific resident comments, posts, survey responses, and other inputs.

To switch to the Feed tab:

Click Feed in the tab navigation at the top of the dashboard.

What you'll see in the Feed

The Feed displays signal cards from multiple sources, sorted by date with the most recent items first.

What are Signal Cards?

Signal Cards are individual feedback items from residents, displayed as cards in the Feed. What constitutes a "signal" varies by data source:

Ask module:

• Single responses to open-ended survey questions that have been mapped to the topic
• Each card represents one resident's written feedback

Listen module:

• Social media posts (from both official and unofficial accounts)
• News articles mentioning the topic
• Direct channel items, such as individual 311 tickets or emails
• Each card represents one discrete interaction or feedback item

All Signal Cards shown in the Feed have been automatically classified as relevant to the topic you're viewing.

Each Signal Card shows:

• Source indicator: Module icon and label (Listen, Ask, etc.)
• Timestamp: When the feedback was received
• Content: The actual feedback text (social media post, survey response, news excerpt, etc.)
• Metadata: Tags, sentiment (when available), and location (when available)

Filter and refine your view

The Feed tab offers multiple filters to help you narrow down feedback and focus on what matters most.

Time range filter

The Range filter works the same as in the Summary tab, defaulting to "Last 30 days." Select from preset options or choose a custom date range.

Source filter

The Source filter lets you view feedback from specific modules:

• Listen: Social media posts, news articles, and direct channel items (311, emails, contact forms)
• Ask: Survey responses (both closed-ended scores and open-ended text responses)

You can select multiple sources or view all sources together. The item count updates to reflect your active filters.

Sentiment filter

The Sentiment filter helps you focus on feedback with specific emotional tones:

• Positive: Favorable or supportive feedback
• Neutral: Balanced or informational feedback
• Negative: Critical or concerning feedback

Note that not all items have sentiment tags—for example, open-ended survey responses typically do not include sentiment classification.

Search

Use the search icon to perform full-text searches across all feedback titles, content, and tags in the Feed.

Understanding the Details

How the AI Summary Works

The AI summary is generated from social media conversations about the topic during the last 7 days. The system:

1. Collects all social media posts and interactions tagged to the topic
2. Analyzes the content to identify recurring themes and sentiment patterns
3. Selects representative quotes that illustrate key points
4. Updates the summary daily to reflect the most current conversations

Important limitations:

• The summary only includes social media data (posts from both official and unofficial sources)
• The summary covers the last 7 days only, regardless of your selected time range filter
• A minimum data threshold is required—if there isn't enough social media activity about the topic in the last 7 days, no summary will appear
• The summary is labeled "AI-generated" and includes a timestamp showing when it was created

Data Sources & Coverage

Topic Dashboards pull data from multiple modules across your Zencity platform:

Listen module:

• Social media posts and interactions (official and unofficial accounts)
• News articles mentioning the topic
• Direct channel feedback (311 tickets, emails, contact forms)

Ask module:

• Survey responses (both quantitative scores and open-ended text responses)

All data shown in the dashboard has been automatically tagged to the topic through Zencity's classification system. This ensures you're seeing feedback specifically related to the issue area you're exploring.

Known Limitations

AI Summary scope: The AI-generated summary is currently limited to social media data only. Survey responses, news articles, and direct channel feedback are not included in the summary, though they do appear in the Feed and Signal Tracker.

Sentiment classification: Not all feedback items include sentiment tags. Open-ended survey responses and some other data types may not have sentiment assigned.

Data availability: Topic Dashboards are currently available only to clients with the Listen module active. Future releases will expand access to clients with other module combinations.