Manage Twitter Searches

Owned by Carrie Warner (Unlicensed)
Last updated: May 25, 2023 by Jonathan Schmale
4 min read

To access the Twitter module in Flow, from the Home page, select Content > Twitter.

Once you have specified a topic, you can add, modify, and delete Tweet searches. A single topic can contain any number of searches. Each search retrieves Tweets individually and all searches together return Tweets for the topic. The more searches you add, the more Tweets your searches may return for you to moderate, manage, and output. 

Add Twitter Searches

  1. On the Search Groups tab, click Add New Search Parameter. 

  2. Specify search parameters as described in the following table.

  3. To verify that your search parameters are valid, click Test. This optional step does not save any Tweets; it’s a verification tool only for the search parameters.  

  4. Click Save. 

When you create a new topic in the main Twitter module, the Search dialog opens automatically to make creating your first search for that topic convenient.

You can specify up to ten (10) parameters combined. For example,

  • 10 accounts or

  • 10 hashtags or

  • 5 accounts + 5 hashtags or

  • 1 hashtag + 4 accounts + 5 none-of-these-words or

  • etc.

Within a single search, the more search parameters you specify, the more narrow a search and the fewer Tweets are returned. Search parameters are combined as “AND” results.

Twitter Search Parameters

The search must define at least one parameter from the left side of the dialog. 

You may enter up to ten (10) search words in a box, separate each with a space, and then click Add or press the Enter key.

Once added, you can delete any entry by clicking the “x”.

Search Parameter

Description

Search Parameter

Description

Any of these Hashtags

Any Tweets containing any of the hashtags (topics) specified.

From one of these Accounts

Any Tweets that originate from any of the Twitter accounts (or handles) specified.

To one of these Accounts

Any Tweets directed to one (or more) specific Twitter account(s) or handle(s), such as a reply.

Mentions one of these Accounts

Any Tweets that mention one (or more) specific Twitter account(s) or handle(s).

All of these Words

Any Tweets containing ALL of the dictionary words specified.

Any of these Words

Any Tweet containing ANY of the dictionary words specified.

None of these Words

Any Tweet that does NOT contain any of the dictionary words specified.

Location Near

Users who enable Tweet location for their account may include location information in their Tweets.
To search for Tweets that originated from a specific location or area, enter a location in the field.
For example, during a sports event at a specific stadium, perhaps you only want Tweets from the fans in the stadium during the game.


The location can be as broad or specific as you want. You can also define the location area as a radius of any given point in miles or kilometers. For example, if you want to specify an entire state or province as the location, specify an address near the center of the state or province and estimate the number of miles or kilometers to the border.  

Language

Any Tweet written in a specific language or select "Any Language" to not filter by language.

Include

Any Tweet that contains the following:

  • retweeted content

  • reply content from another Tweet

  • only Tweets that include a happy face :)

  • only Tweets that include a sad face :(

  • only Tweets that include a ? question mark

  • tweets with links

At least one of these options must also be selected:

  • Tweets with text only

  • Tweets with images

  • Tweets with video

Max Tweets to Queue

Specifies the maximum number of Tweets that the search parameters return that are added to the pool of possible Tweets for broadcast.

By default, this value is 25, so this means that this particular search can return up to 25 Tweets, and these 25 Tweets contribute to the pool of available Tweets.

Your Search

This box displays a running narrative as you define parameters.

Enable/Disable Twitter Searches

You can enable or disable a search for a topic at any time. Click the Enabled icon for a search to toggle between enabled and disabled. 

Enabled account - new Tweets are retrieved. Click to disable.

Disabled account - new Tweets are not retrieved. Click to enable.

Modify Twitter Searches

You can modify and update existing searches for a topic at any time.

  1. On the Search Groups tab, click Edit (pencil icon) for the search you want to modify. 

  2. Modify the search parameters as needed.

  3. To verify that your search parameters are valid, click Test. This optional step does not save any Tweets; it’s a verification tool only for the search parameters.

  4. Click Save.

Remove Twitter Searches

You can remove existing searches for a topic at any time. Removing searches for a topic is a permanent action that cannot be undone.

  1. On the Search Groups tab, click Remove (red x icon) for the search you want to remove.

  2. Click OK when prompted to confirm.