Guide to Advanced Twitter Search

Social Media, Twitter — By Matthew Tommasi on October 24, 2009 at 11:35 pm

 

For the uninitiated, Twitter is a platform where information sharing and conversations happen in real-time.

It is where breaking news appears first.. often significantly before appearing on live TV.. and sometimes up to tens of minutes before being reported by the major online news sites.

Even as I’m typing this, companies and businesses are integrating Twitter as a primary channel of news delivery.. the internet as a whole is evolving towards real-time.

The lines between traditional journalism are blurring and becoming non-existent, as people around the world are able to send tweets, share files, take pictures and upload videos all from their mobile phones.

More people are using social media than ever before and the amount of new content being generated every moment is increasing exponentially.

So are we experiencing information overload?

To quote Clay Shirky.. “It’s not information overload.. it’s filter failure“.

To be successful in searching for the right content you need to apply filters. There are many different types of filters you can apply to your search criteria and this guide will show you some advanced techniques.

Like with all search engines, Twitter has two types.. real-time standard search,

.. where you can enter basic keywords.. this is the method everyone uses and knows.

Advanced Twitter Search

Twitter also has an advanced search that allows you to really filter out the noise and hone-in on specifics about what people are talking about right now,

The Twitter advanced search interface allows you to search via two ways,

1. Search Box
2. Search Form

Search Box

You can use all sorts of search operators in the search box to refine your search.. and I will go through each of these search operators here using examples.

Word Search

• social media =   will find tweets containing both “social” and “media“
• “social media” =   will find tweets containing the exact phrase “social media“
• social OR media =   will find tweets containing “social” OR “media” (or both)
  
• social -media =   will find tweets containing “social” but NOT “media“
• #socialmedia =   will find tweets containing the hashtag “#socialmedia“  –> please see my article Twitter Hashtags for an explanation of hashtags

People Search

• from:matthewtommasi =   will find tweets from the person “matthewtommasi“
• to:scobleizer =   will find tweets to the person “scobleizer“
• to:guykawasaki OR to:mashable =   will find tweets to the person “guykawasaki“, OR to the person “mashable“
• @socialguide =   will find tweets referencing the person “@socialguide“

Places Search

• “windows 7″ near:sydney =   will find tweets containing the exact phrase “windows 7“, that are sent near “sydney“
• facebook near:london within:10mi =   will find tweets containing “facebook“, that are sent within “10 miles” of “london“

Date Search

• “google wave” since:2009-10-23 =   will find tweets containing the exact phrase “google wave“, that have been sent since the date “2009-10-23” (year-month-day)
• “windows vista” until:2009-10-19 =  will find tweets containing the exact phrase “windows vista“, that have been sent up until the date “2009-10-19” (year-month-day)

Attitude Search

• movie =   will find tweets containing the word “movie”, with a positive attitude
• food =   will find tweets containing the word “food“, with a negative attitude

Other Search

• linkedin filter:links =   will find tweets containing the word “linkedin“, and linking to URLs
• tennis source:tweetdeck =   will find tweets containing the word “tennis“, and entered via Tweetdeck
• beer ? =   will find questions with the word “beer“

All of these search operators can be combined with one another(s) to refine your search even further.

Search Form

The advanced search form underneath the search box, allows you to enter and search using all the operators listed above.. but entering them in the form.

Think of it as an easier, advanced search!

Saved Search

All Twitter clients have saved search functionality where you can save searches.

From Twitter’s interface type in your search query (using any of the search operators above).. then click on the search icon,

To save that search click on the Save this search link,

This search is now saved and can be accessed in the future quickly, by clicking on that link,

You can also use search widgets with persistent searches and embed them in  in your blog.

I have embedded a Twitter search widget in my News page to search for tweets containing the exact phrase “social media“.

50 More Twitter and Real-time Search Tools

Here are 50 more Twitter and real-time search resources:

1. BackTweets – Search for Links on Twitter
2. BingTweets – Fusing Twitter trends with Bing real-time search
3. Collecta – Real-time search
4. CrowdEye – Real-time social search
5. Faroo – Real-time search
6. GeoFollow – Location based Twitter directory
7. Heapr – Search Google and Twitter
8. IceRocket – Real-time search
9. itpints – Real-time search engine
10. MicroPlaza – Search the hot links and trending topics on Twitter
11. Monniter – Real-time Twitter monitor
12. Navgle – Navigate your search
13. OneRiot – Search the real-time web
14. PicFrog – Real-time image search on Twitter
15. Scoopler – Real-time search
16. serendipiTwitterous – Search for Tweets of a certain person using keywords
17. Topsy – A search engine powered by tweets
18. Trendistic – Search Twitter through time
19. Twazzup – Search Twitter. Get real insights
20. TweedleDM – Search Twitter DMs
21. Tweefind – Twitter search by user rank
22. TweepFind – Tweeps search by Rank and Skills
23. Tweeple of India – Search tweeple of India
24. TweepSearch – Twitter profile and Bio search
25. TweetFeel – Real-time Twitter search
26. TweetGrid – Create a Twitter search dashboard
27. Tweeple411 – Twitter search directory
28. TweetFind – Live Twitter directory
29. TweetRSVP – A search engine that pulls tweets with questions and requests for information
30. TweetScan – Microblog search
31. Tweetzi – Real-time Twitter search and trends
32. Twicsy – Search Twitter Images
33. Twifish – The extended Twitter search
34. Twindexx – Crowd-sourcing the best of Twitter
35. Twingly – Microblog search
36. Twiogle – Search Google and Twitter at the same time
37. TwiPho – Search Twitter photos
38. TwiST – Twitter search tool
39. Twithority – Twitter search by authority
40. Twitmatic – Search for videos on Twitter
41. Twitority – Authority based Twitter search
42. Twitter FreeSearch – Twitter search
43. Twitter Job Search – Search jobs on Twitter
44. Twitterment – Search engine for Twitter
45. Twitter Power Search – Real-time Twitter search
46. TwitterTroll – Twitter search engine
47. Twoogel – Google and Twitter search
48. Twoquick – Simple Google and Twitter search
49. Twuet – Twitter search engine
50. Visible Tweets – Twitter Visualisations

Seek and ye shall find!

You can download this guide as a PDF (with along with a cheat sheet of the search operators) when you register to receive The Social Media Guide’s free newsletter.

It is packed with social media tips, guides, downloads and more!

Enjoy!

 
 

Tags: guide, how, instructions, social media, Twitter