One of Twitter’s strongest features is underused by many: Twitter’s enhanced search options.
If you go to you Twitter homepage (where you will notice the layout has changed once again), there’s a subtle search box. Just type in any word you want to search on.
Once you hit enter, the real power of Twitter search reveals itself:
You can search for people, photos, videos and much more. And you can choose to only search your Twitter friends, those near you, or everyone. I’ve used this option many times when I remembered someone tweeting something interesting about a certain topic, but couldn’t remember who it was exactly. But obviously, the options are myriad.
If you’re not using the Twitter search options, you’re missing out on a powerful tool to find the tweets, links, quotes, photos and whatnot you’re looking for.
Do you use the Twitter search options? How do you like them?
bryan says
I don’t on their website but use it on my third party my twitter client. Is there a difference??
Rachel Blom says
That depends on what app you use. I use tweetdeck for instance and it does have a search option, but I can only search ‘tweets’ and ‘users’. I have some extra options, like searching in a specific language, or searching for retweets, but I can’t search for pictures for instance. That might be different with Hootsuite or other Twitter apps, but I can’t tell you.
Kevin @SiteWizardLLC says
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for sharing this. I had actually seen search tools on third party Twitter clients like Hootsuite and Vocus, but I hadn’t really played with the one built directly into Twitter. I always assumed that it was limited to searching profile info, but it seems that it also searches across all public discussions.
A nifty thing about Twitter search is that it can be a great marketing tool. You can search for a topic, then get involved in a discussion. It lets you find people in your “target audience” and try to make a connection. If you add something relevant to the conversation then you may get followers and/or clicks to your website.
If you’re a church, you might be able to search for people looking for a church or holiday events in your area. For example, search for “Christmas lights” or “Christmas play” or “Christmas service” followed by your city name.
If you’re a business, you can search for people talking about your industry. Or by searching for your business name, you might also discover people talking about experiences with your company. If they share good experiences, you can thank them for their patronage. If they share bad experiences, you may be able to reach out to them and try to make the situation right.
BTW, I discovered a more direct URL to Twitter’s Advanced Search: http://twitter.com/search-advanced
Thanks for sharing,
Kevin
Rachel Blom says
Thanks for the useful addition Kevin! I agree that the search tool can be a marketing tool, however…you have to be very careful how to use it. I’ve had companies and brands reply to an @tweet which sometimes feels a little stalker like and creepy. Be respectful of privacy when you reply, for example by only responding to general tweets and not replies within conversations.