In 2006, Jack Dorsey had an idea, and he called it Twitter. Since 2006 Twitter has grown in extreme popularity world-wide and is a remarkable development social networking, utilizing the web, text-messaging, and cell phone technology. In fact, by 2013 estimates are that Twitter will gain a total of one billion users.
With all of that Twitter chatter going on, it can be difficult to search Twitter, especially with over forty percent of tweets being what is termed by a San Antonio based market research firm as "pointless babble." Plus, let's not mention all of the self-promotion, spam, and conversational topics that those outside of the specific conversation may not actually be interested in.
How does one get through all of the Twitter chatter and find relevant data with searching Twitter then-because sometimes, a search on Twitter can be like looking for a needle in an intergalactic sized haystack.
Well, several Twitter applications exist such as TweetDeck and TwitterLocal. Online databases like Twitdom and Twtbase list a multitude of other Twitter apps that can help sort through all the tweets too and there are third-party Twitter directories. Directories from anything related to the Irish to the Ultimate List of Moms on Twitter exist.
However, one of best ways to search Twitter is probably from Twitter's own website. Here is a list of three search tips for Twitter that many people don't necessarily think about.
Dates
Tweets are limited to 140 characters-that's characters, not words, so even empty spaces between words are counted within the limit. Because of this limitation, people post an incredible number of short tweets almost on an hourly basis. Knowing the approximate date of tweet and save tons of time in searching Twitter.
In the Twitter advanced search option there is a date bar and an easy drop down menu allows you to select your date specific message.
Shared Links
When you search Twitter, and you are looking for something specific, keep in mind that many tweets can contain links to news information, articles, consumer products, people, and websites in general. Many of these "shared links" are retweeted-that is, Twitter users will send a link tweet on to other Twitter users.
In the people search section of the Twitter search function, type in the person's name who sent the shared link, use a key term in the keywords search section, and mark the box that states you only want tweets returned where the link was listed. If you add the date search from the Twitter search tip above, you'll only increase the likelihood of finding what you are looking for.
Attitudes
Attitudes are a really cool search Twitter feature that even Google never came up with. Twitter users can specify in a Twitter search for happy or sad, positive or negative tweets. If you want to skip the advanced search function of Twitter but still use the attitude search function, simply type a :) or a :( after the search term. For example, if you type pizza :), you'll find positive tweets about pizza. Type pizza :(, you'll get negative responses.
About the Author: MyWebGuyTaylor is an seo specialist from Santa Barbara, CA and founder of The Search Engine Pros.com. Taylor is actively involved in local humanitarian efforts in the Santa Barbara area (Greenpeace, Fonkoze Microloans, HUB.) and specializes in helping Non-Profits and Eco Friendly startups. Taylor has been providing web and search engine optimization services and advice for 11 years. Taylor can be reached at 800.605.4988 or by email taylor [ @ ] mywebguytaylor.com
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