Obviously the content has to be up to par for this to work.

This can work in your favor on down the road as well as the present. Even if an article is a month or a year old, if it is still relevant, someone may happen across it and tweet it or share it some other way. This will not only place your content within the streams of that persons followersfriends, but also on the radar of any related realtime searches taking place. Realtime search isnt just about whats happening right now.