--- name: push-notification-writer description: "Writes three push notification variants for a news story or content update, each optimized for different urgency levels and character limits, ready to paste directly into a CMS or notification platform." status: stable category: social-media subcategory: content version: 1.0 eval_score: 4.44 tags: [social-media, push-notifications, mobile, news-apps, engagement, breaking-news] --- # Push Notification Writer ## What This Skill Does Writes three push notification variants for a news story or content update, each optimized for different urgency levels and character limits, ready to paste directly into a CMS or notification platform. ## When To Use This Skill - A breaking or developing story needs to reach mobile readers immediately - You are scheduling a push notification for a feature story, newsletter edition, or podcast episode and want to maximize tap-through - You need to adapt one story into multiple notification tones — urgent, informational, and curiosity-driven — for A/B testing or different audience segments - You are writing notifications under strict character limits and need every word to earn its place ## What You Need To Provide **Required:** The story or content to promote (headline, one-sentence summary, or a brief paragraph describing the news); the platform or character limit (iOS: ~110 characters visible on lock screen, Android: ~65 characters in collapsed view, or a custom limit). **Optional:** Urgency level (breaking, developing, scheduled feature); tone preference (neutral news, conversational, provocative); the publication's voice (formal broadsheet, digital-native, tabloid energy); a specific detail or number that should appear in the notification. ## How the Assistant Approaches This 1. **Extracts the single most compelling fact.** Reads the input and identifies what makes this notification worth interrupting someone's day — the new information, the surprising number, the consequence that affects the reader personally. This fact anchors all three variants. 2. **Writes three variants at different urgency registers:** - **Breaking/Urgent** — leads with the news, no wasted words. Reads like a wire alert. Prioritizes speed of comprehension over curiosity. - **Informational** — gives enough context that the reader understands the significance without tapping. Still concise, but explanatory rather than breathless. - **Curiosity-driven** — opens an information gap that can only be closed by tapping. Uses tension, a question, or a surprising framing. Best for features, analysis, and non-breaking content. 3. **Enforces character limits ruthlessly.** Counts characters for each variant against the stated platform limit. If a variant exceeds the limit, it is rewritten — not truncated. Every variant displays completely on the lock screen without ellipsis. 4. **Adds a tap-through rationale.** After the three variants, one sentence explains which variant suits which scenario (e.g., "Use Variant A for push-alert subscribers who opted into breaking news; Variant C for the general audience segment to maximize tap-through on a feature"). ## Output Format Three labeled notification variants, each on a single line with a character count in brackets. No preamble. After the variants, one line of deployment guidance. Total output: under 150 words. ``` **Variant A — Breaking/Urgent** [XX chars] [Notification text] **Variant B — Informational** [XX chars] [Notification text] **Variant C — Curiosity-Driven** [XX chars] [Notification text] --- *Deployment: [One sentence on which variant to use for which audience segment or scenario.]* ``` ## Quality Criteria - [ ] Every variant fits within the stated character limit — no truncation or ellipsis - [ ] The breaking variant leads with the news fact, not a label or preamble - [ ] The curiosity-driven variant creates a genuine information gap without being clickbait or misleading - [ ] No variant uses all-caps, excessive punctuation, or emoji unless the publication voice explicitly calls for it - [ ] Each variant is meaningfully different in approach — not three rewordings of the same sentence - [ ] Deployment guidance is specific to the input scenario, not generic advice - [ ] The notification makes sense without any additional context — a reader seeing it cold understands enough to decide whether to tap ## Example ### Input **Story:** A new study published in a major medical journal found that adults who sleep fewer than six hours a night are 2.5 times more likely to develop early-onset cognitive decline than those who sleep seven or more hours. The study tracked 14,000 participants over 12 years. **Platform:** iOS (110-character lock screen limit) **Tone:** Digital-native news voice — clear, direct, slightly conversational ### Output **Variant A — Breaking/Urgent** [98 chars] Sleep under 6 hours? Study of 14,000 people links it to 2.5x higher risk of early cognitive decline. **Variant B — Informational** [108 chars] A 12-year study of 14,000 adults found sleeping under 6 hours a night raises early cognitive decline risk 2.5x. **Variant C — Curiosity-Driven** [103 chars] The sleep threshold that changes your cognitive risk — and most people are already below it. New study. --- *Deployment: Use Variant A for health and science subscribers who expect data-forward alerts. Use Variant C for the general push list to drive tap-through on a feature package.* ## Known Limitations - The assistant cannot predict tap-through rates. The three-variant structure supports A/B testing, but actual performance depends on send time, audience segment, and device context — factors outside the skill's scope. - Push notifications for legally sensitive stories (court rulings, ongoing investigations, unconfirmed reports) require editorial and legal review before sending. This skill optimizes for clarity and engagement, not legal caution. - Character counts are based on standard Unicode characters. Emoji, special characters, or non-Latin scripts may display differently across devices and could affect visible length. ## Related Skills - [caption-writer](../caption-writer/SKILL.md) — write social media captions to accompany the same story - [seo-meta-description-writer](../seo-meta-description-writer/SKILL.md) — write the meta description for the article the notification links to - [ab-social-post-tester](../../strategy/ab-social-post-tester/SKILL.md) — generate A/B test variants for the social promotion of the same story