Since the inception of Twitter in 2006, users of the social media platform have spawned billions of tweets on innumerable subjects ranging from the mundane to those relevant to public interest. On a per minute basis alone, over 350,000 tweets are being sent out. This staggering number not only has a rapid growth rate, but fluctuates and spikes significantly depending on trending topics across the globe.

On top of that, the number of twitter users continues to increase. One can only imagine the abundance of information readily available to the public that can be used for any number of reasons. This wealth of data therefore is best analysed by new online tools, and this is where Topsy.com comes into the picture.

What is Topsy.com?

Topsy.com is a free analytics tool designed to help users retrieve needed data and then understand certain trends on social media, from old tweets to real time conversations. The company, founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco California, is officially partnered with Twitter and is owned by Apple.

Features

Social Search

On the landing page, users will be greeted with a search box and a number of search categories. This is the site’s most basic function – the social search. It does more than the Twitter’s search function. For example, where Twitter only reveals top or recent tweets on a topic. Topsy, with its comprehensive data on tweets, churns out more and gives you a clearer picture of, say, public sentiment within a particular time frame. It also allows you to see who the influencers are, or even figure out how much a certain piece of content has been shared by simply entering a URL, as well as see tweets by specific users.

Social Analytics

Social Analytics, which you can access by either going to analytics, topsy.com, or by clicking on the second item on the menu on top of the page, is another tool that provides a more comprehensive search. Here, you can look for at most three keywords and compare how these topics fare on social media. You’ll see a visual representation of these results as well as a look at the numbers. Click on the advanced search option beside the search box and you’ll see suggested keywords to further narrow down the tweets to even more specific results.

Social Trends

Clicking on Social Trends shows you tweets currently hottest across the globe, ranking them according to popularity. You can customize your search by putting in your keywords or narrowing them down to photos, videos, or based on a language.

Why Use Topsy?

Topsy provides us a comprehensive view of what people are generally talking about and allow us to zoom in on those which we are interested in. This works for additional information on surveys and studies, tracking progress of topics, brand recognition status – generally making it easier for everyone to be updated.

Benefits for Big and Small Businesses

The market universe is the lifeline of businesses. It’s a basic need to understand your primary target markets or perhaps to see how your competition is doing. Understanding what your audience’s preferences and needs are leads to better online marketing, more successful campaigns, and more effective communication with customers thus boosting your brand’s social media presence. Ultimately, gaining insights based on data gathered from Topsy helps to inform on both business and online campaign decision making. And this works for both small and big businesses.

Evaluation

For a publicly free tool that fulfills more than what the average Twitter search function offers, it can be a good deal for, say, starting businesses, social media enthusiasts, or those following a certain topic. The savvier would know why they have to purchase Topsy Pro, and while this is all well and good, it might alienate those starting out who would like to benefit from this.

The difference between Topsy Pro and the free tool may be a little too wide, and not enough to entice those wanting a taste. Though for those who have no idea how it works, one has to go to topsylabs.com where the landing page gives you a better idea of what the site can do. It’s a link that’s not directly accessible on the topsy.com site unless you go to “Support.” But these are minor issues compared to what kind of benefits one gets from using Topsy. And if you’re unsure about the paid service, Topsy offers a thirty-day free trial where you can explore better functions. We’ll take a look at the Pro Version in an upcoming blog

Conclusion

Overall Topsy is by far the best free Twitter search tool to come online, use it and see how it can make a difference to your small business.

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