Twitter for Research

We've all seen the pro's and con's of Twitter now. Sometimes it's difficult to even explain Twitter to someone new to it. Like most social media tools, if used correctly, it has a potential for massive harnessing of crowds and resources alike. I've been noticing the quick rise of information on Twitter alongside Google searching.

There is much to be discovered for both work and fun, but more importantly research and development. It's no secret, that the internet is possibly one of your most valuable resources for productivity in all facets of life, especially WORK and the growing amounts of mobile devices.

That being said, just as there are certain methods for better isolating your desired information on Google (see my Search Tips), there are also ways to narrow down desired information on Twitter. Constantly there are growing number of web based tools available for this. Here are two sites I have been using quite a bit lately for aggregating information.

• Topsy
• Twitterfall

Topsy, is a tweet powered search engine. It searches current Twitter posts and ranks the search results for you. Google is king for content search, but this gives you an added advantage of finding current discussions or links relevant to you current search. An INSTANT Live approach, as opposed to an archived search which has been caught by search crawler bots at timed intervals. The results can be sorted down by Months, Weeks, Days, even hours.

Twitterfall, takes this to the next level. You can add single or multiple trending topics of interest, and the results drop in LIVE from the top of the page as tweets are submitted. You can tweak many aspects of how to absorb this massive amount of information. Slow down the speed, adjust font size, change the page's theme to be more pleasant to your eyes.

Adding tools such as these to your existing arsenal of Google, Wikipedia etc..., basically increases the amount of data available to you and the rate at which you consume it for research. All this amounts to you being more productive, and finding answers and solutions quicker than ever before. There are HUGE amounts of information out there. Use tools like this and you will find yourself better prepared for the tasks at hand.