The Social Media Guide
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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,
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The Social Media Guide
.. 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,
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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.
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The Social Media Guide
Twitter Search Operators – Cheat Sheet 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
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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.
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The Social Media Guide
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!
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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,
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The Social Media Guide
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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,
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The Social Media Guide
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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".
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The Social Media Guide
50 More Twitter and Real-time Search Tools
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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
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The Social Media Guide
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 Page | 8 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!
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The Social Media Guide
The Social Media Guide
Using Social Media to guide and help you connect to Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube using new media Page | 9
The Social Media Guide provides helpful advice and tips on connecting you to others, through the use of Social Media and Social Networks. The current explosion in Social Media technologies including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc has made it more easier than ever to connect with friends, groups and customers with similar interests from all around the world. The downside with these new technologies is that often people experience information overload and are either scared off or simply get too confused. The Social Media Guide acts as an authoritative guide on embracing and integrating these new technologies, by presenting clear and simple solutions to common social media problems. My aim is to help you connect. You will be able to connect with more people faster and extend your reach deeper into the social web.
www: email: twitter:
http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au matthew@thesocialmediaguide.com.au @socialguide
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