As a virtual assistant, I’m always searching for content and sometimes it’s quicker and more recent to search through Twitter feeds. Once you’re in Twitter, your eyes glaze over and you realize it’s really hard to find “that tweet from a couple of days ago.”

Searching Twitter isn’t that hard and there are a bunch of ways to search.

Search by Word

Pretty basic. You search for a word (or words) that meet your needs.

• Exact match
  >> virtual assistant
• Hashtag search
  >> #virtualassistant
• Any of the words
  >> virtual or assistant
• Exclude words
  >> virtual assistant -app (so you don’t see the Siri-type VA tweets)

Search by Person

• From a specific Twitter user
  >> @oofva
• Specific word/phrase from a specific Twitter user
  >> virtual assistant from:oofva
• Addressed to a specified Twitter user
  >> money to:richardbranson

Search by Location

• Specific word/phrase sent near a location
  >> kayaking near:Vermont
• Specific word/phrase sent within X-miles of a location
  >> cheese near:Vermont within:20mi
• Specific date search
  >> oofva since:2013-07-01

Tip: When you are searching, you can limit tweets within your language by adding “&lang=insertyourlanguagehere” at the end of the search results URL.

You can also use Twitter’s advanced search, where you fill in fields with any (or all) of the above info at: https://twitter.com/search-advanced

About Out of the Office Virtual Assistance:

At Out of the Office, we offer ideas and ways to increase your productivity, decrease your workload, and work more efficiently. We nurture a successful business relationship, while continuing to grow as your business partner. We are focused on streamlining your administration, social media planning and execution, and offering creative solutions for your business success. Join me at the Google+ Virtual Assistants Community to share information and network with like-minded professionals.

Image credit: geralt | CCO Public Domain