Twitter has quite peradventure become the widest , most insightful , and perpetually unresolved window into the minds of the hoi polloi that the world has ever see . Its large and grow group of users send everything from tidings about current event to , yes , the occasional photo of what ’s for lunch . All this tweeting can be invaluable for any act of uses — but only if you know how to find what you require .
Why to search
There are now over200 million userswho constantly post just about anything you may imagine : links to authoritative newsworthiness , ill about a intersection , pattern crest and aspiration , favorite unexampled bands , family photo — you name it . These divers nuggets are getting mail by Twitter ’s as various share of the world ’s universe : the general public , celebrities , politicians , government agency , marketers , customer support , and more . Fun fact : 70 percent of Twitter ’s utilisation now do from outside the United States . If Twitter is the Earth ’s largest water cooler , its lookup shaft are an omnipresent pair of ears that can give you an exigent perspective on any topic at any prison term .
Twitter ’s popularity is due in part to how wanton the fellowship made it for users to post content . But the service ’s computer architecture , rich API , and constitutional culture also make it gentle to mine this increasing mountain of data for just the information you need . require to check how a product launch is going or how you ’re stack up against a competitor ? Need to monitor tweets about a major effect ? Or perhaps you want to get more personal with your customers and supply one - on - one support when they post complaints . These ideas are just come up the aerofoil , but a number of clients , dick , and trick make it well-to-do to obtain what you ’re looking for .
Search basics
There are a superfluity of ways to mine Twitter , but let ’s start with the fundamentals atsearch.twitter.com . This decidedly Google - like Thomas Nelson Page offers a very dim-witted interface . It also displays Twitter ’s signature inclination of trending topics — things that have captured the fugitive attention span of Twitter users the world over .
Type your query , reach Return , and off you go . you may search for the name of a production , a mortal , a topic , a specific Twitter username , or ahashtag — a word with a pound sign ( # ) in front of it ( such as:#io2011 ) .
Hashtags on Twitter are akin to tags onFlickrorPinboard — they’re a tool that grow organically out of the community as a room to tag a subject or event . you may flick , or tap , on a hashtag on Twitter.com and most of its client to see all other tweet that carry the same rag . you’re able to also cut across hashtags , a technique that I ’ll get to in a moment .
Want to see what people are saying about an event or topic? Search for a related hashtag.
Want to see what people are say about an event or topic ? Search for a related to hashtag .
A useful fringe benefit ofsearch.twitter.comis that its search results page is fluid . Instead of merely devote you a static listing of results at the time you ran your query , it will actually continue watch Twitter for mentions and alert you at the top of the page when there are more to view . Dedicated apps for the Mac , iPhone , and iPad often provide a incessantly updating live current of these lookup results .
One drawback of Twitter ’s search dick is that , because of the sheer volume of tweet its users engender , Twitter only provides access to a few days ’ worth of archive . Twitter recently published somestaggering stats : as of March 2011 , users now create one billion tweet per hebdomad , or 140 million tweets per day . The company ’s search index simply can not keep up with that activity , which is something Twitter has been mould to improve forover a year . In other words , our tweets are all still there ; you just ca n’t seek much far back than a few days until Twitter improves its search infrastructure .
Want to see what people are saying about an event or topic? Search for a related hashtag.
Twitter latterly announced that its hunting solution will admit drug user - place image and videos as well as just text edition tweet . At press time , this feature was still revolve out — some user could see it and some could n’t .
Other tools
Of of course , when you talk about search , two of the bighearted names — GoogleandBing — can bring a hand when it comes to Twitter . Both companies made agreements with Twitter to indicant tweets from a broader date grasp , but results can be hit and escape . The way you explore Twitter also differs slightly between each Robert William Service .
GoogleTo search Twitter on Google , go togoogle.com/realtime . This is Google ’s custom peter for searching societal internet like Twitter , Facebook , FriendFeed , and more . Here you could enter any combination of keywords , hashtags , and usernames , and take reward of other perquisite like the “ nearby ” option ( to expect for tweets made by people near to your location ) or Google ’s timeline that lets you specify a period of time other than “ the right way now . ” or else , you could run a typical Google search and click the Realtime filter in the sidebar .
If you want to search for mentions of “ iPhone ” from a sure user , you could get even more specific by customise your search string further to something likeiphone web site : twitter.com / macworld .
Search for any combination of keywords, hashtags, usernames, and more with Google’s Realtime search tool.
Search for any combining of keywords , hashtags , usernames , and more with Google ’s Realtime search dick .
As far as hits and misfire go , though , I ’ve found that Google provides more exact outcome that go further back . For model , this queryon Google for any of my tweet that curb “ WordPress ” found a number of my tweet , a couple of which are from former April — over two month ago as of this writing . The same query on Bing found nothing .
Hone your search
Much like big search locomotive like Google , Twitter offers its own handful of search operator , though with some unique twists . for sure , you may search for a phrase , pretermit a specific terminal figure , and expend boolean operator such as “ and , ” and “ or ” to perfect your results . But Twitter ’s search operators also permit for some special polish by let you particularize elements like location , whether the tweet include a question , or even what the drug user ’s mood was .
Twitter ’s more powerful search page atsearch.twitter.com/advancedmakes it easy for any user to leverage the power of its lookup operator without give birth to learn them . On this Thomas Nelson Page you could plug in specific values to craft a hunt such as specific usernames , localization ranges , and mood . Perform your search and the results page works like any other . remark that if you qualify a location , a small map will appear in the results Sir Frederick Handley Page ’s sidebar to control that Twitter is looking in the right place .
Twitter ’s Advanced Search Thomas Nelson Page makes it easy to put together a complicated and very specific lookup .
Twitter’s Advanced Search page makes it easy to put together a complicated and very specific search.
If Twitter ’s in advance hunt Thomas Nelson Page finger too confining or you ’d rather craft queries yourself , the company offers acheat sheet of its search operatorsthat you may use at search.twitter.com and in about any client . you may stretch out your search phrase with hashtags , @-usernames , locations , and even smiley faces . So a hunt like : iPhone near : chicago :( will let you have a go at it whether Chicagoans have been having i - trouble lately .
Tools that can help
Twitter ’s search dick offer some supererogatory functionality if you ’re set out more serious about sifting through all those tweet . For starters , your lookup queries are bookmarkable , so you’re able to quickly repay to them whenever you need the late snapshot . Just bookmark the results varlet with your favorite web browser tools and rejoin to it whenever you like .
lookup widgetsTwitter offers some basic tools for turning hunting result into real - clock time widgets that you could easily place on your web log . You could use these to show off , say , tweet from an event you ’re partaking in or happy tweets about your party ’s product . You just have to go toTwitter ’s whatsis Sir Frederick Handley Page , then pick the “ Search Widget ” choice . There you may custom-make a hunt query like I ’ve discussed earlier , and Twitter shows you a trailer of the widget and gives you a snipping of codification you may paste into your land site . For example , you could run a query like “ yourproductname :) ” which will return glad tweets from exploiter who refer your product . you may paste that widget computer code snippet into your website tools , and there are certainly more powerful options useable for platforms like WordPress .
If you need integration with other apps or more functionality than Twitter ’s Advanced Search Sir Frederick Handley Page can propose , there is a seemingly endless supply of Twitter tools that can help take your data minelaying to the next level .
Saved searches in appsMany apps on both the Mac and Io provide you to make “ hold open search ” that ceaselessly update in your app . Echofon for Mac($20 ) and iPhone / iPad ( $ 5 ;) , as well asTwitterrific for Mac , iPhone , and iPad ( ) , are unspoiled case . They provide clean Twitter interfaces ( which many prefer over Twitter ’s own littered Web app ) and straightforward search and saved search options . Echofon even ups the ante by let you syncronize your tweet ’ read and unread Department of State between your background and peregrine node .
Business extrasIf you need something more business - oriented , Hootsuiteincludes firm support for Twitter search queries and keyword tracking . With its highly customizable interface , you could summate multiple chit , each containing multiple column , to keep a bird’s - eye view on a mass of Twitter and other accounts , lookup queries , and dog keywords . This full - sport societal media Web app stomach a figure of services beyond Twitter , includingFacebook , LinkedIn , andWordPress . It ’s large for somebody and team , as you’re able to do affair like assign tweet to other members for follow - up and schedule tweet to go out at a recent time .
racecourse trendsKloutis another useful service , though not exactly a Twitter search tool . This is more of a “ personal analytics ” tool , which allows you to see how much influence a substance abuser has on his or her Twitter community of interests . It ’s a sound agency to find out not just who is twitch about your product or an important subject , but which user are the big hitters among your community who can help get the word out about news or good change .
If analytics are your thing , the potent toolTrendrrcan act as a dashboard for your societal activity across Twitter and other avail . habituate this tool to make active charts that display a term ’s appearances over a period of time , equate the activity of two or more keywords , and expend filter by criterion like climate and even sex .
Get the most out of Twitter
I ’ve only scratched the surface of what ’s possible when you decide to rule the office of searching Twitter . Whether you ’re looking to construct a community for your Website , gather feedback to direct product exploitation , crowd - origin support for a cause or late disaster , or plainly meet new people who share your undying enthusiasm for Babylon 5 , the pulse of human beings — or just your local area — is just a Twitter search box out .
