You can use the Twitter search and saved search features to find tweets on specific subjects in the Twitter timeline. The search results show tweets from all users. Create special searches to find conversations about your business, brand, and products and save them for easy reuse.

• Before You Start: You have a business Twitter account.
• Learning Level: 3 | Building Skills
• Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Twitter Search

Twitter search is one of the most powerful features of Twitter. In the top menu (next to the Twitter logo), you can type in search keywords and Twitter displays the most recent tweets that contain your keywords. Twitter limits how far back in time it searches, and that time frame frequently changes. At best, Twitter finds the tweets back tw0 weeks, but sometimes only searches a few days back.

The Twitter search allows you to use Boolean operators and other search operators to create a specific search. For example, you can:

• Search for tweets that contain a specific phrase: “Denver airport”
• Search for two (or more) words that appear in the tweet but don’t have to be together:  Denver airport
• Search for tweets with one word or another: Denver OR airport
• Search for tweets that contain one word and don’t contain another word: Denver -airport
• Search for tweets to one user: to:SocialMediaDIY

You can also string together these search operators to create a very specialized search. Experiment with these operators until you are comfortable with how they work.

Reputation Management Searches

To create a single search that locates your company name and all of your brands, products, and services, you would use the search operators to create your search. Be sure to include all spelling and abbreviation possibilities in your search string.

• For example, if you wanted to track tweets that mention the soft drink Coca-Cola, you would have to include both Coca-Cola and Coke (search for: coca-cola OR coke) because people use both names interchangeably.
• For example, to find all of the tweets that mention the event called Ignite Phoenix, you could have to search for: “Ignite Phoenix” OR “Ignite Phx” OR IgnitePhoenix OR IgnitePhx.
• For example, if you wanted to track tweets to and by a competitor, vendor, or partner in a single tweetstream, search for: to:StaplesTweets OR from:StaplesTweets to see all communication.

Saved Searches

After you perfect your business search, you can save it so you don’t have to retype it each time. At the top of the results, you see the message: Results for [yoursearch]. Above and to the right, locate the green plus sign next to “Save this search.” Click this button and Twitter saves your search.

To use a saved search, display your Twitter home page. Click Searches and Twitter shows you list of saved searches in the drop-down list. Click the search you want to run, and Twitter displays the results.

You can’t edit a search. If you want to make changes to saved search, delete the existing search and save a new search.

To delete a saved search, use the search and view the results. At the top of the results on the right, locate the red X next to “Remove this saved search.” Click on this message, and Twitter removes the search from your list of saved searches.

Your turn: How are you using the Twitter search and saved searches to do reputation management? Share your tips and insights here.

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• Using Your Twitter Goals
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