豆知识 2009-07-26&08-01 Twitter Search (2/2)

 It’s also a great way to learn about news. When an explosion is heard outside of town, the townspeople report it in real time. This means that Roy can check Twitter search to find a constant stream of information, sometimes from the very people who experienced it. He can even limit the results to tweets near a specific location. It’s news as it happens.

 

Every minute of every day on Twitter, people are using some words more than others. Maybe the town has a new mayor, a concert came to town, or the same joke is being told over and over. If the most popular words could appear on a sign, a person just arriving in town could get a feel for what was interesting to the residents at the moment.

 

On Twitter, the most used words are known as trends and they’re a great way to see what’s interesting on Twitter. You can always find up-to-the-minute trends on your Twitter profile, or at search.twitter.com. Clicking a trending topic shows the most recent tweets that include that word or phrase.

 

Sometimes, Twitter members work together and use a specific keyword, called a hashtag, to connect related tweets. For example, people talking about elections may use the hashtag “vote” to create the connection. This way, by including the “vote” tag, Roy can make sure his tweet is part of the discussion.

 

If enough people use the tag, it may become a trend, attracting even more people to the conversation.

 

Of course, tracking these conversations is easy because Roy can search right on his Twitter profile. And if he wants to see results over time, he can save the search.

 

With Twitter, all the small messages are useful when shared between people. But by organizing all the tweets and making them searchable, we can learn what’s on the minds of millions.