If you want to cut through the blitz of tweets you get in Twitter search results, try using filters. The best, easiest and fastest method of doing this is using a tool called Tweetdeck.
Tweetdeck allows you to add a column that will ‘stream’ tweets that match your criteria. The native web interface for twitter found on www.twitter.com does not allow you to filter based on engagements, but Tweetdeck does.
Engagements that you can use to filter on Tweetdeck are Retweets, Replies and Likes.
How to Get There
Go to tweetdeck.twitter.com and authorize the app. It is an app provided by Twitter themselves, so you are assured about your account’s security.
On the left of your authorized page, there is a + sign somewhere. Hovering your mouse pointer over this will tell you ‘add column‘. Click on that + sign. The pop-up that follows has a number of options. Look for the option that says ‘search‘. At the time of writing this, ‘Search‘ is on the top row of the pop-up. (Tweetdeck changes their interface often, just like their main Twitter web interface and Mobile phone Apps. They seem to think it is cool)
Shortcut 1: You may go direct to the search bar without passing the pop-up way. Find out how to do that, be a clever chap.You will be returned to the left of your interface where you are asked to enter a search term. Here, enter a keyword e.g Nestwebia or the username/handle of a specific account e.g @Nestwebia. Press ‘Enter’ or click on the magnifying glass symbol at the right hand end of the search bar.
Within Your Column
A column will be added to your Tweetdeck interface. In that column, you will see tweets containing the keyword, or from the user you entered, or mentioning the user you entered.
On the top of the column you just added, there is a filter symbol. Click on that and a drop-down menu of filters appears.
Under ‘Content’ area of the drop-down menu, clear the search term you entered. Skip the ‘Location‘ area of the drop-down menu. Your interest is in the ‘Users’ area. Click on that and select ‘specific user‘. Next, enter the username/handle of the specific user.
Beware: In search, enter the username/handle of the specific user whose tweets you want to see. Click on their profile when it appears, then click on tweets. A column of that user’s tweets will be added, but you cannot filter the tweets based on engagements – at the time of writing.
Next, go to the ‘Engagement‘ area of the same drop-down menu. Enter the number of engagements you want in each section of engagements.
Your filtering is complete. Now, move your mouse pointer back up to the filter symbol and click on it. This closes the filter drop-down menu.
You are Done
Voila. The tweets now appearing in that column are tweets by the user you entered, and are filtered by number and type of engagements you entered.
This Nestwebia Blog Post is written as an answer to a question asked on Quora.
