Topics & Topic Pools

Topics are what Borker writes about. Topic pools organize related topics into groups. Together they power the Decision Engine: the system that picks what to write about for each generation run.

Manage topics in Settings → Topics.

What topic pools are

A topic pool is a named collection of related topics. Examples:

• "Product Updates": topics about new features, bug fixes, roadmap
• "Industry Trends": topics about AI, market shifts, competitor moves
• "Founder Lessons": topics about startup growth, lessons learned
• "How-To Content": tutorial and educational topics

Pools help the Decision Engine balance diversity. It won't keep pulling from the same pool back-to-back.

What a topic is

Each topic has:

• Title: the subject ("AI in content marketing")
• Keywords: terms to emphasize in the generated content
• Angle: the specific perspective or framing (most important field)
• Engagement score: your estimate of how well this topic performs (1–10)

The angle field: the most important field

This is what separates Borker from raw ChatGPT.

Without an angle, "AI in content marketing" could produce anything: a neutral overview, a hype piece, a critique. With a specific angle, the AI knows exactly what argument to make.

Weak angle (too broad):

"Write about AI in content marketing."

Strong angle (specific perspective):

"Focus on the gap between AI's promise of 'brand voice' and the reality that most AI content sounds identical across brands. Argue that the differentiator is configuration quality, not the model."

The angle should:

• Take a specific point of view
• Indicate what the post argues or explores
• Be specific enough that two different people reading it would write similar posts

More strong angle examples:

• "Implementation friction is the real barrier to AI adoption, not capability. Give concrete examples of setup complexity."
• "Thread readers are getting smarter about AI-generated threads. What makes a thread actually worth reading vs. what triggers 'AI slop' detection."
• "LinkedIn engagement has shifted: posts with questions outperform posts with statements. Show data if possible, but frame as observation if not."

How the Decision Engine selects topics

For each calendar slot, the engine scores every topic in your pools:

1. Recency score: topics used recently score lower. Exact time weight decreases with distance.
2. Engagement score: higher-scored topics get a boost
3. Pool diversity: topics from pools that haven't been drawn from recently score higher

The highest-scoring eligible topic wins. If you have 30 topics across 3 pools and generate content daily, you'll cycle through the full pool roughly once per month.

Best practices

Maintain 15–30 topics at any time. Fewer than 15 and you'll see repetition quickly. More than 30 is fine, but the Decision Engine handles 15–30 comfortably for daily generation.

Refresh your pool quarterly. Remove topics that feel stale or no longer relevant. Add new topics as your focus areas evolve. Mark seasonal topics with low engagement scores when out of season.

Be specific with angles. The angle is where specificity pays off. Generic topics with generic angles produce generic content. Specific topics with specific angles produce content that sounds like something a human expert would write.

Use the engagement score honestly. Set it based on past performance, not aspiration. Topics with high engagement scores get prioritized by the Decision Engine: if you set everything to 10, the scoring becomes meaningless.

Managing topics in the UI

Add a topic pool: Settings → Topics → New Pool → name it.

Add a topic to a pool: Select a pool → click + → fill in title, keywords, angle, engagement score.

Edit a topic: Click any topic → edit in place → save.

Delete a topic: Open the topic → delete button. Note: deleting a topic doesn't delete generated content that used it.

Reorder pools: Drag-and-drop pool ordering in the sidebar.