Twitter is great at a lot of things. Using Twitter is simple, posting to Twitter couldn’t be easier, and getting the hang of Twitter as a new user doesn’t take much time. In every manner, Twitter is a great social networking site. But, the one thing that Twitter doesn’t do well is provide an ideal way to search through Tweets and find users.

A simple Twitter search box does exist, but this box can be frustrating. Tweets are hardly ever found and locating a user is difficult. Thankfully, there’s Topsy. Topsy is a Twitter search tool that makes searching through the Twitter jungle easier.

How Topsy Works

Topsy allows you to search for certain Twitter users and Tweets according to date criteria. If you want to find a popular Twitter topic from 2010, all you have to do is specify the topic and date, and Topsy will do the rest for you. This advanced search tool goes all the way back to 2008, so you can look for all kinds of tweets.

Topsy is a Twitter archive of sorts, but it doesn’t keep tweets that didn’t rank high on the popularity scale. Another great thing about Topsy is that you can search for one specific keyword without typing in a whole phrase. This is convenient if you want to break apart a phrase of if the Twitter users you’re searching for has a popular name.

Trending Updates

Not only is Topsy a great Twitter search tool, it’s also a fantastic way to catch up on current Twitter trends. Topsy lists “trending” tweets on its home page. If you want to find out what’s happening in the world, Topsy is one of the best ways to do it. Unlike certain Twitter platforms, Topsy’s trending topics are current and refreshed frequently. This assures that you’ll never miss a trendy topic.

The difference between trending topics through Topsy and through other sites is that Topsy lists trending topics according to relevance. For example, a popular video may gain more Twitter hits than a popular topic, so Topsy will list the video before the popular topic. Really, Topsy trending lists are a great way to catch up on popular culture.

Intelligence

Another great thing about Topsy is that the site doesn’t redirect you if you want to find out why a particular photo or video is popular. Instead, a small video screen will show up when you click on the trending video topic. Likewise, photos that are currently trending will appear on your current screen. This eliminates the need to switch back and forth from one topic to the next.

One Drawback

Every site or service has its drawbacks. With Topsy, that drawback is the inability to allow users to search according to location. Sometimes it’s convenient to search for a past tweet based on location information.

This is not possible with Topsy. However, this is a small drawback to a site that really has its Twitter stuff together. If you’re looking for a great Twitter search tool, Topsy is the way to go. This site is available to anyone who has a Twitter account, and the services provided by Topsy are free.