Twitter is an easy tool to use for accessing a variety of information if you know a few Twitter Search Tips. Because most of us cannot spend hours in front of Twitter due to other responsibilities in our lives, many important or interesting messages slip by before we have had the chance to view and read them.
A Few Smart Twitter Search Tips
Twitter recently moved the search tool to accommodate Twitter followers and other social networking venues. It is now more convenient to conduct searches by clicking on “Search” at the bottom of your Twitter home page or you can simply log into Twitter and then proceed to search.twitter.com.
- Keyword Tips: When you use Twitter search you should keep in mind that the people who write Tweets may not use terms that are search friendly. This is where the “Advanced Search” feature can help you. Assuming you are logged in to the Twitter search tool as described above, you will notice the initial search says “words.” This tool will help you find a host of alternatives for locating search terms. For example, if you type in “social media” into “All of These Words” tool, you will be provided with results from tweets that will mention additional terms associated with “social media.” These terms could include social media, social networking, trends in social media, social networking sites, etc., as well as terms you may not think of related to the topic you typed into the search.
- Hashtag: A hashtag is another one of many Twitter Search Tips that Twitter users use for terms that are searched more frequently. Since the terms are so popular, the hashtag (#) used before the search term provides a means for categorization. For example if someone is tweeting about social networking, the term may also be categorized as “#Facebook.” For this reason, hashtags are a convenient tool for locating specific information such as news or product reviews. There are also many other tools for searching Twitter.
- Shortcuts: You can use keyword specific terms without using the “Advanced Search” tool. These shortcuts work a lot like Google and you use them to separate terms or combine them together. For example, if you are searching “computer software” Twitter will specifically return “computer software” results. On other hand, if you type “computer or software” Twitter will return results that will have either word included.
- When it comes to keeping up with tweets from certain people it is best to know the user’s Twitter handle. However there are other shortcuts to finding people on Twitter if you do not know their handle. For example, if you type in @barackobama Twitter will return tweets that refer to Barack Obama. If you type in from:barackobama, this will return tweets that were written by Obama. By typing in to:barackobama, you will locate all of the tweets to Obama.
- Link Share: Although social bookmarking has increased in popularity, Twitter does not offer this service. Instead Twitter followers use link sharing to find new websites, products, and other information. It is possible to search shared links that you forgot to bookmark simply by typing the person’s name into Twitter under the “people” search tool, along with a term that refers to the search. You then indicate that you only want link results returned.
There are many more ways to reduce search time and, as Twitter continues to grow, there will be new ideas being developed to make the site more search friendly to Twitter users.
The tips presented in this article are only a few smart Twitter Search Tips that save time and help followers keep up with tweets and friends in social networking.
