How To Follow All People Who Tweet About A Specific Thing And From A Specific Location
cherman on Mahalo Answers recently asked:
How can I follow all people that tweet about something? For example, I want to follow everyone who tweets “soup” within 100 miles of sf.
This was my response:
1. http://nearbytweets.com/ – Search for tweets that include “soup” within any distance from any location. I found over 100 results with your specifications.
2. http://search.twitter.com/ – Search for “soup” and start following all the results. This, of course, doesn’t mean that anyone is from SF or even likes soup, just that they are tweeting it at the time.
3. http://hashtags.org/ – Search for #soup. Anyone who specifically wants to communicate about a soup related topic will be using the #soup hashtag. Try narrowing your hashtag search to #soup and #sanfransciso or #SF.
4. You can also subscribe to the hashtag search for soup to always know when people are tweeting about it: http://hashtags.org/tag/soup/messages.atom.
5. http://www.twitterlocal.net/ – Search tweets by location and only check results that include “soup”.
edit: You can also use Tweetdeck, which is a download. My list was for specific searches through a browser.
If you are looking for new friends from a specific part of the world to follow who share an interest in a specific topic, are a journalist looking for reactions from people in a specific area to a specific event, or want to identify potential clients to buy your product or use your service based on location, hyperlocal tweet search is where it’s at.
Mahalo is currently using Twitter to extend brand awareness while provide a helpful (and free!) service, which is the best kind of marketing there is.
Mahalo Answers:
“Ask questions via twitter! Message any question to @answers on Twitter. They will publish the question and send you a reply each time there’s a new answer.”
I recently tried this and I received my first response in less than five minutes. Free, fast and accurate info = Mahalo is really stepping their game up. I used to have mixed feelings but recent changes in how they serve content are inspiring me to take a closer look. They are, now, definitely more than just people-driven search results.
By allowing people to integrate their Twitter experience with Mahalo search and their new Answers section, as well as providing accurate and  timely compilations of hot news topics, I don’t think they are in danger of being the ugly stepchild to Google anymore.
I still use the mug they mailed to me back in the day 🙂 It’s cozy for my tea.
>>image via Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten‘s Flickr<<