In this post I will describe a free Twitter search tool, Topsy. By using Topsy you can search and find old tweets in Twitter using keywords, search top social trends based on keywords, view social analytics, set up email alerts for search terms and share a search query on Twitter. You can search old tweets and relevant tweets based on date range, language and content type (links, tweets, photos, videos and influencers). Also, you can sort this list by relevance, newest or oldest first.
Topsy offers advanced search tool for searching old tweets in Twitter. You can search tweets with OR search, search tweets containing term A but not B, search tweets containing both terms, search tweets with Hashtag search, search tweets with exact phrase search, search tweets sent from a person, search tweets mentioning a Twitter handle and search tweets containing a link.
1) Search tweets: Click on the Social Search menu on the top left side. Now, enter any search term as per your requirements. Click on Search.
i) Search tweets based on date range: From the left menu you can select a date range to search tweets. You can search tweets for latest results, last one hour, last one day, last week, last month, all time and for a specific date range.
ii) Search tweets based on content type: From the left menu you can select a content type to search tweets. You can search tweets for everything, links, tweets, photos, videos and influencers.
iii) Search tweets based on language: From the left menu you can select a language to search tweets.
iv) Sort list: You can sort this list by relevance, newest or oldest first.
v) Advanced search: By using Advanced search you can search various types of search combinations. Click on gear menu next to Sort drop down menu and then click on Advanced search.
a) Search tweets with OR search: For Example, if you want to search tweets containing text Thats Journal OR Social Media or both, perform a OR search.
b) Search tweets containing term A but not B: For Example, if you want to search tweets containing text Thats Journal but not containing Social Media, perform this search.
c) Search tweets containing both terms: For Example, if you want to search tweets containing text Thats Journal and Social Media both, perform this search.
d) Search tweets with Hashtag search: You can use a hashtag to search tweets. For Example, #socialmedia
e) Search tweets with exact phrase search: You can use this search for searching an exact phrase like “Thats Journal”.
f) Search tweets sent from a person: You can use this search for searching tweets sent from a Twitter name. For Example, from:KeithKeller
g) Search tweets mentioning a Twitter handle: You can use this search for searching tweets mentioning a Twitter handle. For Example, @ThatsJournal
h) Search tweets containing a link: You can use this search for searching tweets containing a link. For Example, site:thatsjournal.com
2) Set up email alerts: To set up email alerts for any of the above given search criteria, click on gear menu next to Sort drop down menu and then click on Get Email Alerts.
3) Share search query on Twitter: To share your search query on Twitter, click on gear menu next to Sort drop down menu and then click on Share on Twitter.
4) View social analytics: You can view number of tweets per day for a keyword, number of replies for a Twitter handle and number of links for a site in a graph. Click on Social Analytics on top left side. You can search using a keyword, Twitter handle or a link. Also, you can use advanced search as I have described above.
5) Search top social trends: You can search top social trends in Twitter. Click on Social Trends on top left side. Use a regular search or advanced search as described above. You can view from top 100 social trends to top 20,000 social trends.
