Twitter User Search

Using the Twitter user search on the web site can actually be pretty complicated, depending on what you're looking for. There are different types of searches, like keyword, person, location, date, or even emotional color and semantic structure. What I will do is go down the list and let you know the best ways to search under each of these categories.

If you're doing a word search, it's helpful to know what exactly it is you're searching for. You can do a search for an exact match: "search marketing" or search for any of these words: search OR marketing. You can even exclude words: search marketing -seo. You can search for related discussions that involve a specific word: #seo. You can even restrict your search results to any specific language, which adds "&lang=" to the inquiry string.

To search for people there are fewer options for you. You can find threads by a specified Twitter user: seo from: seosmarty. You can find threads addressed to a specified Twitter user: WordPress to: jdevalk. And you can even find Tweets referencing the specified username: search @mashable.

There is also an option to search locations. You can find Tweets sent near the specified location: seo near: seattle. Or you can find Tweets sent within a certain number of miles of a specified location: near: NYC within:15 mi.

You can do a search by date to find posts sent since or until that specified date: seo since: 2009-03-27. You can also do a search for emotional color and semantic structure to find Tweets with positive or negative attitude: mccain :) or mccain :( or you can search for questions: elections ? and search for useful resources like links to related pages: seo filter: links.

Now to search for specific users on Twitter you can use the easier method. Just type in a name in the search bar at the top and a list of people will come up for you to look at. If you see the person you're looking for, simply follow them. If you can't find them you may have to make your search more narrow or more broad to target who it is you're looking for.

Hopefully some of these tips and tricks will help you find whoever, or whatever, it is you're looking for on Twitter. Even if it doesn't, at least you practiced using some of these tools and they will help you in the long run to find what you're searching for.