If you regularly use Twitter, you will agree that the integrated search engine, although powerful, does not seem very efficient. What if the problem did not come from the tool, but from its user? Yes you! Indeed, the search field is smarter than it seems and has, like on Gmail for example, advanced features to improve results.
So here are some tips to help you be more efficient when searching on Twitter! You will see that, in most cases, These tips can be combined for ultra-precise results !
1- Search for tweets from a specific account
Let's start easy. To find tweets posted by a particular account, simply type from: + account name (without the @) in the search bar. For example, if you want to see all my tweets:
from:byothe2- Search for tweets addressed to a specific person
A little more interesting, here's how to see all the tweets addressed to a given account. To do this, you have to type to: + account name (without the @) in the search bar. For example, if you want to see all the tweets addressed to me:
to:byothe
3- Search for tweets from a specific person addressed to a specific person
As you can see, this time, we're going to combine the two previous tips in order to only see the tweets from the person you're interested in addressed to another account of your choice. It's very simple but it turns out to be damn effective!
To do this, you must therefore type from: + account name (without the @) and to: + account name (without the @) in the search bar.
For example, if you want to see the tweets that I sent to a loyal reader of the blog, it looks like this:
from:byothe to:Sylb83
4- Find tweets from a particular account on a specific topic
To find tweets on a specific topic posted by an account, simply add the appropriate keywords after the " from:account"
It is also possible to exclude specific topics by putting the – sign in front of the keyword.
For example, if you want to find all the tweets in which I talk about deepL but I don't talk about Google, you have to type the following search:
from:byothe deepL -Google
5- Find popular tweets from an account
Another interesting search is to find all the popular tweets of an account. Several options are available to determine that a tweet is popular. So you can search for tweets with a minimum of retweets, favorites or replies:
- min_retweets:x
- min_faves:x
- min_replies:x
Replace the x with a number and you're done:
from:byothe min_replies:1So you will see all my tweets that got at least one reply.
6- Filter the results according to the type of result desired (image, link, etc.)
Sometimes it can be useful to find only tweets of a certain type. To do this, simply add the following filters to your search:
- filter:links -> to only see tweets with links
- filter: images -> to only see tweets with images
- filter: videos -> to only see tweets with videos
- filter:media -> to only see tweets with any media (image, video…)
So to see only my tweets that have been the subject of at least one response and contain a video, you will have to carry out the following search:
from:byothe min_replies:1 filter:videos
7- Find tweets over a given period of time
And yes, it's not over yet, it is also possible to specify date ranges to refine your search even more! In terms of date, there are two criteria: since for published tweets from a date and until for published tweets up to a date.
So, by combining the two, we can determine a date range:
from:byothe since:2009-07-01 until:2009-07-31For the date, the following format must be respected: YYYY-MM-DD
8- Find tweets based on location
To finish with these Twitter search tips, we will see how to find tweets relative to their location. Thus, you will be able to see the tweets near a city (near:) and you will even be able to determine a maximum distance (within:xkm or x represents the number of kilometers).
So to see tweets from Parisians (up to 5km around Paris) you can perform the following search:
near:Paris within:5kmTo finish…
There you have it! With all this, you are well equipped to succeed in your searches on Twitter and find relevant results. As you will have understood, most of these search criteria can be combined to obtain THE perfect search! So try it out and don't hesitate to share your questions and tips in the comments below!
