Twitter is more than just about sharing what you had for dinner with the world or criticizing the latest celebrity who has said the wrong thing. The platform also ranks as #1 for discovery, making it an excellent tool for researchers.
Whether you're a journalist, student, or marketing professional, Twitter has space for everyone. Keep reading to discover some of the ways you can use Twitter to gather research and open new doors...
1. Run Polls
Polls and surveys are an excellent way to get unique insights and a better idea of specific trends. On Twitter, you can run polls about any topic you want and choose up to four answer choices.
To create a new poll, choose the third icon along under where you would normally compose a new Tweet. Fill in at least two choices and set how long you want the poll to run for (you can pick up to seven days).
You can also choose whether everyone can reply or if this survey is only open to your followers. If you only want specific accounts to respond, you can create that as a setting too.
Since polls only allow for fixed answers to questions, try encouraging users with other opinions to get involved too by including "Reply Below" or something similar in your post.
When you're happy with your selections, press Tweet and let your ideas out!
2. Carry Out Interviews Via Your DMs
When meeting face-to-face isn't an option, interviewing people via your Twitter DMs can be a great option for getting the information you need. It's also faster than drafting a list of questions and waiting for an email response.
Some users have their DMs open to everyone. If the person you're trying to interview does, send them a message explaining who you are, what you do, and why you want to interview them. If they agree, set up a time so you can conduct it in one go.
If you can't contact your desired interview subject via private message, mention their name in a tweet. As with the above, tell them why you want to interview them and a little about you as well.
3. Search With Hashtags
If you're researching a current news topic, searching with hashtags is a fantastic way to gather insight from both experts and the general public. You will find a mixture of opinions, articles, and specific information about the event or topic you're researching.
To search for specific hashtags:
- Go to the Search bar in the top right-hand corner of Twitter.com.
- If you're using the Twitter app on your phone, go to the magnifying glass tab at the bottom of your screen.
- In both places, search for the term you're looking for with a # in front of it. Make sure there are no spaces between your words.
For topics with a high tweet volume at the time you search, you can also find out more about those by going to the Trending tab. You can access this via the magnifying glass tab on your phone. On your computer, you'll find a list of trends on the right-hand side of your homepage.
You can sort tweets depending on if you want to see the top-performing ones or are interested in seeing everybody's posts.
4. Go Through Old Content
If you're looking for what people were thinking during certain events in the past, searching for old content on Twitter might help you more than search engines.
To find Tweets posted in a certain time period, type the words or phrases you're looking for. After that, write "since:[insert date], until:[insert date]".
You can also look through specific accounts' old tweets. The steps are the same. Instead of a phrase, however, you need to type in their username.
And if you want to look for specific tweets from a particular account, you can combine their username with a keyword or phrase.
In all three cases, search results will show tweets from that time frame where posters used keywords. You may have to try a few different searches to get the results you want to find.
5. Turn Account Notifications On
If you regularly research as part of your job, you can save time by turning on alerts for relevant accounts. When you do this, you will receive a notification either on your desktop or via the mobile app whenever they send a new Tweet.
To turn on account notifications, go to the profile you're interested in following more closely and click the bell icon. You'll find this next to the Following button. Once the bell turns blue, you will receive all of the latest updates.
If you later want to stop receiving alerts from an account, tap the bell icon again to undo this. You need to follow an account before turning on their notifications; it doesn't matter if they don't follow you back.
6. Social Listening
If you work in marketing, Twitter can help you discover what your target audience is talking about. Users' conversations will naturally reveal what they're looking for from your brand, allowing you to develop content and services that solve their problems.
You can carry out social listening on Twitter by typing in common terms related to your company's offerings. For example, if you're part of a company that sells software for remote workers, the below would be relevant:
Another way to carry out social listening on Twitter is by looking at mentions you receive. You can also ask users to share their current struggles or leave feedback on your product.
You can also use third-party software if you have the budget, which will save you a lot of time. Options include Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Socialbakers.
Up Your Research Game With Twitter
Twitter offers much more depth than you may think. Knowing how to conduct research on the platform will enable you to gather information and insights that you'd otherwise miss by only using Google.
And to help make Twitter even more useful, there are tools you can use to find out more about your followers.
