The power of OutTwit Search/Track Keyword on Twitter
I’ve discussed OutTwit (from @techhit) in previous posts. Over the last several weeks, I’ve really expanded my Search/Track Keywords and finding some really interesting folks, and really interesting topics, all by using OutTwit’s Search/Track Keyword functionality.
By this I mean, I’ve mentioned previously that Twitter has a 100 per hour pull limit from remote Twitter tools. Understandable given the number of users and the number of Tweets. In any event, Search/Track Keywords dramatically increases your ability to find things quickly. Yes, Following a bunch of people and using Search Folders as I’ve mentioned does the same thing, but again, requires API usage where Search/Track Keywords does not. For the last several weeks, I’ve been using Search/Track Keywords and it’s pulling faster than Following.
A couple of examples of how I’m using Search/Track Keywords:
I’m a fan of mobility so I like to follow conversations on mobility in general. So, I created a Search Track Keyword for Windows Mobile that’s going to a Windows Mobile folder. This search will find any posts made to Twitter where the user uses the words Windows Mobile.
I also want to follow certain trade shows, and those attending trade shows, so obviously creating searches for things like CES or CTIA will work:
I’m also a Cub Scout Den Leader, so want to find others on Twitter that are in to scouting (and obviously also find those who aren’t), so I’ve created a search for Scouts. This will find any posts made to Twitter where the users uses the words Scouts, however the term is used. I’ve meet some other great den leaders in the process.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, you can obviously search for users and “follow” them without adding to your following count. So, searches can be made to follow people (and those that reply to them) by searching for the twitter username, such as levarburton or lancearmstrong or michael_phelps or jerryrice or the_real_shaq (yes, they all use twitter). Or, I can refine the search further by finding any posts just from them, and weed out those replying to them, or trying to get their attention. For this, I use the from: in my search term:
This will only pull posts made from user lancearmstrong, and weed out all replies. If I wanted to follow the entire conversations, I’d leave off the from: and pull any referring to that username. There are many powerful search terms that can be used. You can find a few of them by clicking the underline:
Again, Search/Track Keyword does not utilize or take your API so you can create as many as you want, or use them as often as you want, without fear of running in to the dreaded API limit issue. I won’t tell you how many I’ve created, but there are a lot, and it’s greatly improved my twitter experience.