What does API stand for? Does it matter? Truth is, a web service just isn't a web service without an API. Informally, anybody could use the RSS feeds we've been providing as an API but well there are easier ways. Especially when it comes to creating other web applications that process and display real-time information.
So we've created a JSON implementation. If you are not familiar with it, JSON is a format that is ready to read by Javascript. In our case, we provide that data wrapped in a call to a function called ts_parse. If you define that function to handle the data, that's a start. You can look at http://tweetscan.com/badge.js for a reference implementation. Which leads us to the badges....
The first use of the JSON and what was used for testing is also available at http://tweetscan.com/api.php in the form of a badge. You can grab a couple snippets of code, put in your search string, and wham! you'll have topical live updating tweets on your site.
Of course, we'd love to see what else can be done with this data. The possibilities are nearly endless. So if you've got a developer's itch to scratch, give it a shot and let us know if you need anything more in the API.
Happy API Scanning!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Video of Tweet Scan
Just saw this cool video today from Robert Scoble's feed on Qik. He talks about how he uses Twitter and Tweet Scan(2:22) so look, listen and learn. Robert mentions searching: Microsoft, Scobleizer, Winer, and retweet.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Search by date
"History, history is laughing at us, plotting its discovery, victory, victory, blame it on the victory." - Bad Religion
Today marks the first day where all previously collected tweets are available online. You can search back in time by clicking on the "just now" field and choosing a date from the calendar. You can also type the date in YYYY-MM-DD format if you prefer the keyboard which we often do.
Why is this useful? You might be doing a report for a client and want to judge consumer sentiment before and after launch of the new site. Or perhaps you remember a friend said something cool but it was so far back that paging through your archives is impractical. Maybe you're just a historian trying to help us all avoid repeating our mistakes.
This is a new feature and there may be bugs so please do tweet about them including the word "tweetscan" so we can log them, submit to code review, and finally to our implementation group to be rolled in with the next Tweet Scan service pack. ;)
Happy Scanning!
Today marks the first day where all previously collected tweets are available online. You can search back in time by clicking on the "just now" field and choosing a date from the calendar. You can also type the date in YYYY-MM-DD format if you prefer the keyboard which we often do.
Why is this useful? You might be doing a report for a client and want to judge consumer sentiment before and after launch of the new site. Or perhaps you remember a friend said something cool but it was so far back that paging through your archives is impractical. Maybe you're just a historian trying to help us all avoid repeating our mistakes.
This is a new feature and there may be bugs so please do tweet about them including the word "tweetscan" so we can log them, submit to code review, and finally to our implementation group to be rolled in with the next Tweet Scan service pack. ;)
Happy Scanning!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Redesign and Popular Searches
If you've visited the site in the last couple hours or if you helped test it yesterday, you are now seeing a redesign of the site. The previous interface was a hack, too spacious, and even we were getting tired of that green. Tweet Scan now takes up less space on the screen and uses strict(er) css for a standard layout no matter which browser you prefer.
Additionally, we wanted to put a new thingy(that's an accepted word now right?) on the page. Google has their Zeitgeist which is cool but having something that updates once a month or even once a week is glacial by Twitter standards. Our Popular Searches div updates once an hour and reflects some of the most popular searches of the last 24 hours.
Happy scanning!
Additionally, we wanted to put a new thingy(that's an accepted word now right?) on the page. Google has their Zeitgeist which is cool but having something that updates once a month or even once a week is glacial by Twitter standards. Our Popular Searches div updates once an hour and reflects some of the most popular searches of the last 24 hours.
Happy scanning!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The OR operator
In the quest to make our humble search engine the best it can be, we've implemented the OR operator in our search. So if you wanted to search for cats or dogs you can enter that as 'cats OR dogs'. If you want to do an OR between two exact phrases or an exact phrase and a single word, that should work too. For example 'cats OR "big dogs"' will work as you'd expect. Note that the OR must be capitalized for it to work.
This updated functionality should work in RSS, on the site, and in Twhirl. If you have any comments or suggestions, let us know at @tweetscan OR right here in a comment.
Happy scanning!
This updated functionality should work in RSS, on the site, and in Twhirl. If you have any comments or suggestions, let us know at @tweetscan OR right here in a comment.
Happy scanning!
Monday, March 17, 2008
RSS Improvements and Wiki
With Terraminds down over the past few days, many people have been looking for an alternative for their Twitter RSS search feeds. One problem with switching to Tweet Scan for RSS was that our feed didn't include the pubDate field in the feed and at least one web application(TwitterFeed) rejected the feed. This has been fixed.
Also, there are a few advanced features of Tweet Scan like boolean 'and' and 'not' features that people ask for but that are already in there. So we decided it was time to put up a wiki for the project. You can read it(and it is a quick read) at tweetscan.com/wiki. We're particularly interested to hear if you've found some unique uses for Tweet Scan that we didn't think of.
Happy scanning!
Also, there are a few advanced features of Tweet Scan like boolean 'and' and 'not' features that people ask for but that are already in there. So we decided it was time to put up a wiki for the project. You can read it(and it is a quick read) at tweetscan.com/wiki. We're particularly interested to hear if you've found some unique uses for Tweet Scan that we didn't think of.
Happy scanning!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Tweet Scan Core
You follow me, I follow you. On Twitter follower reciprocity is a custom, and at times a rule. It's nice to have lots of followers but if Twitter is a tool to bring us together, this moré can work against us.
It can turn our home page into a virtual firehose of disconnected thought and status. That's why we've developed Tweet Scan Core. It's a simple way to save users that you'd *really* like to follow and see each of their latest tweets from one page. It's your core network status in real-time.
To get it, just sign up at Tweetscan.com and build a comma-separated list of twitter users like this: "tweetscan,weex,jowyang,monkchips". Save your settings and visit http://tweetscan.com/core.php as often as you'd like.
If you have any suggestions, message @tweetscan or leave a comment.
Happy scanning!
It can turn our home page into a virtual firehose of disconnected thought and status. That's why we've developed Tweet Scan Core. It's a simple way to save users that you'd *really* like to follow and see each of their latest tweets from one page. It's your core network status in real-time.
To get it, just sign up at Tweetscan.com and build a comma-separated list of twitter users like this: "tweetscan,weex,jowyang,monkchips". Save your settings and visit http://tweetscan.com/core.php as often as you'd like.
If you have any suggestions, message @tweetscan or leave a comment.
Happy scanning!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)