Searching on Twitter

Two weeks ago I saw a tweet from @twitter about random users who got a search box on their homepage and I wanted to be one of them, although I was away for a few days and had a minimum of tweets last week.

If you are one of the random few who has a search box on twitter.com/home, let us know what you think. Write @twitter — include #topsearch 1:33 AM Feb 25th from web

I still don’t know what functions Twitter should implement themselves and how basic and simple it should stay. This question however is important for my thesis as I want to define Twitter. There are enough external applications now to extend the functionality of Twitter. Some basic functions like the search field are welcome as I use it a lot to see what’s happening on Twitter.

This morning I wanted to update my settings on Twitter as I wanted to try out Twimailer, a function that extends the e-mail notifications of new followers with their number of followers and the last ten tweets. However I couldn’t find the settings link or link to my profile and then I noticed the search field and trends button. Here you see what it looks like;

The search page does not look the same as the regular search page does, and the link to the regular search page is missing at the bottom of my homepage. The new search page has some extra features now. At the top right corner I find some matching users which I can click on and in the menu is the home button now. Below that there’s a featured user which gives me the feeling of Google adwords. Does this mean Twitter will implement advertisement soon? Below these there are the usual trending topics and nifty queries (which are always the same) I never bother to use but do look at;

What I would like instead of trends are keywords I can choose like coffee or haiku, instead of the words that are used the most on Twitter. In Firefox I get a list of the last searched for items, I don’t know if this is a functionality of Twitter or Firefox but I like it. I do want to keep this search box for a while. It’s better to have it within reach than scrolling to the bottom of every page. The trends do vary during the day though, so they must be updated live. This way I can see what’s happening on Twitter and use it more as a grassroots news site.

Amsterdam Twestival 2009

Yesterday I had a great evening at the Amsterdam Holland Twestival 2009, meeting tweeple in real life, meeting new tweeple and party. The Twestival was being organised in 175+ cities across the world, all partying for a purpose for charity:water. The event was entirely organised by volunteers and a huge succes with over 200 visitors, probably much more. A lot of vistors were using their iPhones or Blackberry’s and twittering in public, making pictures which can be found on Mobypicture and Flickr. I tried to make some pics with my EEEpc but that only works with some light around.

One day later it’s interesting to find some messages and new followers on my Twitter accounts from tweeps I talked to in real life last night. I could use some more meetings like these. Let’s see what happens between the people who met last night and the new contacts.

Reading: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Yesterday I got my hands on this book and my expectations are that it’s a lot about grassroots users and activism so I can relate this to my bachelor thesis. I will continue reading this book this week and post a review this weekend. Already in the first few pages the book got my attention on a story of a lost phone and friends of the victim who build a website en forum around this situation and gather information and supporters. Many people can achieve what a single person cannot. This is grassroots activism, now it’s around a lost phone but it can also be some corporate commercial.

Title: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Author: Clay Shirky
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (February 28, 2008)