If you are like me, you have reached your limit of 10 saved searches on Twitter. Searching Twitter to keep track of trends and topics that matter to you is probably a daily function.
The problem with Twitter Search is that you can’t tell the difference between a tweet going out to 100,000 followers and a tweet going out to 3 followers. Icerocket.com (a company i am involved with) has solved and simplified the process.
If I want to see if anyone has tweeted about one of my blog posts, now i can also check to see the number of followers that person has, and using links right on the page, quickly reply to, or re-tweet their post. Now when I get cursed out , called names or praised in a tweet, I know how many people could possibly be reading the tweet. Its also a good indicator as to how many times its been retweeted.
Icerocket.com’s twitter search also allows you to save far more than 10 searches. So if you track quite a few topics, you are no longer limited to 10 searches.
It’s also interesting to put in trending searches to see just who is tweeting about the topic and how many followers they have. Those bizarre trending topics sometimes have a lot of tweets from people who have 10 or fewer followers. It makes it easier to determine if there truly is something unique going on, or if someone is gaming the system
Im curious what people think about this function from Icerocket.com and if they have any better alternatives
Like a previous commenter put it, the quality of the followers is more important than the amount and it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Measure quality, not just quantity, and I’ll pay for that. For example, show me relevancy over a certain time period of my search terms, not just the latest tweets that are a good match. Relevancy meaning how closely a tweet matches my search criteria AND the amount of influence the person tweeting has, then I can prioritize my engagements. The latter may be difficult to measure (and get right) at the moment, remembering that quantity does not equal quality, but it’s a step forward.
Then the next question becomes, how do we measure someone’s influence and keep it secretive so people can’t game the system?
Comment by soiquitmyjob -
Does it really matter the number of followers a Tweet has..doesn’t it make a difference with WHO is following them. I mean, I could have 100k following me, but if only 100 really give a crap, why have the other 90k? I think this ‘follow only people with large following’ is where the Twitter factor fails and fails miserably.
Comment by businessgolf -
Mark/Blake,
Took a look at icerocket… I don’t mean to be too mean here but I will be blunt: Looks like another search experience to me. I don’t need one of those. My OS, my Search/Decision Engine, all of my communications options (Facebook/Twitter/Myspace, yadda yadda yadda) already have this. Show me something truly useful and engaging like MEEBO has been for IM, or TweetDeck is for Twittering… then maybe I’m buying what you’re selling here. Right now though… I can do everything in icerocket… somewhere else. Honest opinion… worth exactly what you paid for it!
MC: PLEASE keep the interesting posts like this and others… going. I love the blog and how transparent you are. Cheers!.bb
Comment by billbledsoe -
Pingback: Chain Links #018 | Proc#curry
Pingback: Reading Around on August 10th through August 11th | B12 Solipsism
I run IceRocket.com . Anyone can email me anytime with suggestions or ideas.
Blake Rhodes
rhodes@icerocket.com
Comment by blakerhodes -
good tool and love the concept (I’ve done a few systems like this just for myself too)…what you need to do though is a bit more complex because it’s not just about how many followers a person has, it’s about who those followers are and how much reach they themselves have…
Think of it like google’s page rank algorithm…but instead of links as a vote, you’ve got actual social connections as votes.
And then if you want to go another whole step, take into account what those connections do beyond just twitter and twitter follow counts (i.e. check out the popularity of their blogs, their disqus and wordpress comments, etc.)…that is take into account their entire online footprint to build an ‘influence’ score…and then you’ve got something game changing to play with!
Comment by falicon -
Anything that can give me a clearer picture of what’s going on in the Twittersphere I would consider trying out. Anything that is easy to use, requires less of my time and gives me better info.
Comment by Andrew M -
Another good tool for tracking your tweets is TweetReach (http://tweetreach.com). In the interest of full disclosure, my company makes TweetReach.
TweetReach tracks a number of stats for any tweet, keyword, or URL, including the unique number of people who saw a tweet, how many retweets and replies a tweet got, and the total number of impressions for a tweet. It’s a helpful tool for measuring how many people saw something you tweeted. Right now, there’s a basic free report and a paid premium report. We’ll be rolling out additional subscription levels in the next week or so.
It works a bit differently from Icerocket, so might be worth checking out. And please let me know if you have any questions about it!
Jenn Deering Davis, Appozite
Comment by Jenn Deering Davis -
Mark,
I love the idea of this. What I have always wanted to see and wish I could figure out how to create is a way to search the collective “blogosphere” to check trends and topics. This includes blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. But I wish there were a way to weed out all the irrelevant information, like if you want to know what people think of G.I. Joe, for example, I don’t want to read a thousand tweets that say, “I’m going to GI JOE!” I wish there were a way that the search could pick out key words such as “good” “horrible” “cheap” “overpriced” etc. so that I could search for a restaurant, movie, or whatever it may be and get relevant information from the masses. That is what I would love to see implemented…just my two cents. Love this blog thanks for all your opinions! I look forward to reading about your views.
Comment by tkennedy4817 -
Mark,
I like the concept. However I think the crucial step is to partner with an iPhone app (or 2) and a desktop app (or 2). I think that the picture sharing and link shortening services are getting it right by targeting the app driven users of twitter. I don’t believe the people who would be interested in what icerocket.com has to offer use twitters web service. I think that if i could drop icerocket into tweetie or seesmic desktop i would use it like crazy.
Because it does work very well.
Comment by Wick Hammerman -
Mark, great technology. Could I make one suggestion that should be really easy to implement? Allow someone to view the Follower counts in numerical order. i.e. allow me to sort them from greatest to least. That way I can market directly to the person who has more followers, offer them special incentives for tweeting about my artist clients, etc.
Also, figure out a way to monetize this brother! I’d pay for this type of aggregation.
brian@bandzam.com
Comment by bandzam -
Great!
Now can I get an RSS feed of my saved Twitter searches?
Mike
Comment by mreyher -
Hi Mark,
Icerocket is an interesting program. I think the ultimate addition to that program, would be one that actually lets you know how many times your tweets have been viewed. Period. By followers, non-followers etc.
I’m guilty of not tweeting, but I look at alot of peoples tweets that I’m not following. An example, like you mentioned above, is I have looked at many tweeters that have 20 or less followers because of their subject matters in my searches. I think those people would love to know they’re being read, without being follwed.
Just a thought my friend.
Peace!
Comment by tommyoregon -
Hey Mark,
I just tried out Icerocket.com using my name, Jason Douglas and twitter handle @jasondouglas. I really like the purpose behind this.
This can be used as a tool to single out ‘influencers’ about various topics and conversations in all industries that have any conversation about them in the twitterverse.
Thanks for writing about this,
Jason Douglas
Comment by jasonmichaeldouglas -