How do you search twitter?

One of the keys to successful twitter use is tracking conversations and keyword search. Since twitter’s search feature is basically non-existent, we have to go outside of twitter to the rich ecosystem of twitter tools.

The first search tool dedicated to twitter is tweetscan. Although Tweetscan is reasonably effective, it is extremely limited in terms of its user interface and capability. Tweetscan does offer a nice feature of daily emails of your search results as shown in a search for word of mouth (wom).

Tweet Scan for warrrenss on 2008-06-06

Your scan: wom

	dbinkowski : @vaspersthegrate as an online WOM guy, i can tell you that the major of WOM still happens offline. those are all con jobs too? <<
	LeaderABW : Never minding what kind of person types an URL into an SE, it shows that either my branding worked or it's an actual WOM sale! Way cool! <<
	bcarlson33 : @andrew_walsh I dreamt a WoM guest fell through and I was the standby. I worked out what I should say, then woke up while being introduced. <<

You received this email because you activated Tweet Scan for this email address. To adjust your searches, change when you get this email, or turn it off altogether, please visit: http://tweetscan.com/main.php

The next generation search tools are much more effective, with stronger functionality. Summize is an excellent tool that provides fast search. Additional features enable you to post the search to twitter or subscribe to RSS feeds for the topic that you are searching for. The search can be narrowed down by zip code which is great functionality. Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani is a fan.

Twist is the newest tool in the search arsenal. Not only will it show you the tweets that you are searching for, but it will graph your terms, so you can see the activity by date. You can compare up to 10 trends.

So what search tool do you use?