How To Search on Twitter Like a Pro

Did you know that Twitter churns through over 500 million tweets per day? While plenty of that is content that you and I might not care about, if even 1% interests us then we’ve got a never-ending supply of fresh material on our hands! However, how are we supposed to go through millions of tweets on a daily basis? The answer is a bit cliché—very carefully, of course.

Twitter is very generous with the number of search operators that it supports. These operators allow us to dig down and search through videos, images, retweets, lists, and much more.

However, most of us aren’t taking advantage of these and are only performing simple keyword-based searches. When you’re searching for something specific, that just doesn’t cut it.

In this article, let’s go over Twitter’s many different search operators and learn how to narrow our searches down to get the exact content we’re looking for.

Basic Search Operators for Twitter

Twitter’s most basic search operators are a set that you expect out of most search engines. The ability to exclude certain terms and search for an exact phrase are things we’ve come to expect, and Twitter doesn’t sell us short.

“” (quotation marks)

The quotation marks search operator limits results to tweets that contain an exact phrase. This is not case sensitive, and it’s the default behavior for single-word search terms.

– (hyphen)

The quotation marks search operator limits results to tweets that do not include the term thereafter. This operator can’t be used by itself, and you must surround the term with quotation marks if it uses more than one word.

? (question mark)

The quotation marks search operator limits results to tweets that contain a question.

OR

The “OR” search operator limits results to tweets that include either term. You must surround a term with quotation marks if it uses more than one word.

Interaction-Based Search Operators for Twitter

As a social media site that revolves heavily around communicating with others, Twitter supports multiple search operators that allow us to filter through user interactions. These include mentions, replies, and lists.

@ (“at” sign)

The “at” sign search operator limits results to tweets that mention the Twitter user thereafter.

to

The “to” search operator limits results to tweets that are directed to or made in reply to the Twitter user thereafter.

from

The “from” search operator limits results to tweets that are sent by the Twitter user thereafter.

list

The “list” search operator limits results to tweets that are sent by members of the Twitter list thereafter. This requires both the username of the Twitter user who owns the list and the list’s URL slug.

Filter-Based Search Operators for Twitter

Some of Twitter’s most powerful and specific filtering options revolve around the “filter” operator. With this operator, we can narrow down tweets by what type of media they contain, when they were tweeted, and which sites they link to.

filter:safe

The “filter:safe” search operator limits results to tweets that are marked as safe and not potentially sensitive. This operator can’t be used by itself.

filter:media

The “filter:media” search operator limits results to tweets that contain an image or video. This operator can’t be used by itself.

filter:retweets

The “filter:retweets” search operator limits results to tweets that are not retweets. This operator can’t be used by itself.

filter:native_video

The “filter:native_video” search operator limits results to tweets that contain video from Amplify, Periscope, or Vine. This operator can’t be used by itself, and you can also filter specifically by video platforms with “filter:periscope” and “filter:vine”.

filter:images

The “filter:images” search operator limits results to tweets that contain images. This operator can’t be used by itself, and you can only search for natively-hosted images with “filter:twimg”.

filter:links

The “filter:links” search operator limits results to tweets that contain links. This operator can’t be used by itself and will include tweets with comments on a retweet that contains a link.

url:amazon

The “url” search operator limits results to tweets that contain a link including the text thereafter. This operator can’t be used by itself.

since

The “since” search operator limits results to tweets that have been tweeted after the date thereafter (year-month-day format). This operator can’t be used by itself.

until

The “until” search operator limits results to tweets that have been tweeted after the date thereafter (year-month-day format). This operator can’t be used by itself.

A great trick you can use is combining the hyphen search operator with any of the “filter” operators. This will allow you to do things like search for tweets that don’t contain images or contain potentially sensitive material. Stringing together more than one operator can really laser-focus your search to the exact results that you’re looking for.

Get creative when you’re searching through Twitter! Your search is only limited by your mastery of Twitter and these search operators, and there are billions of tweets for you to browse through. You’re guaranteed to find something that will surprise you.

 

If this tip helps and you would like to donate click on the button. Thanks In Advance

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Fortune Favors, Who Value Time over Money!"

"TeQ I.Q. was the 1st IT Company to Deliver Cloud Solutions since 2003"
Tech issues taking up your Time?
"TeQ I.Q. Makes Your Technology Simple and Easy"
Do you have Tech Frustrations like your Computer, Internet, Phone, Cellphone, Camera, TV, Car?

     "We Take Away Your Tech Frustrations and Give You the Free Time You Deserve!"
Call Robert to ask all your Technology questions.

We are giving a Free in Person TeQ Seminar at our office in La Mesa every Wednesday from 12pm-1pm and a Free TeQ Support Q&A from 1pm-2pm. Go to https://www.teqiq.com/events for our upcoming Events and https://www.teqiq.com/seminars for info on each Seminar.

For Free Consultation Call Now Robert Black at (619) 255-4180 or visit our website https://www.teqiq.com/

Chase Bank and Others Trust TeQ I.Q. with their IT and TeQnology so can you!