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At this stage I assume you already have a [tag]Twitter[/tag] account, and know the basics, how to reply, direct message and RT – retweet, i.e. you’ve got on board and now need to know a bit more.
So let’s start by looking at Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com

The key to all searches on any application is getting the best from it and how it can work for you, so let’s start with some simple searches and queries;

FROM
To see the tweets I have sent simply enter the following query: ‘from:alpenwest’
TO
Who has been publicly messaging me recently? Find out by searching for ‘to:alpenwest’

MENTIONS
Pretty straightforward, I know, but you can search for ‘@alpenwest’ to see tweets where I have been mentioned. Includes retweets, rather than tweets aimed directly at me.
Drilling down into the search functionality
This is where Twitter is really powerful and where if rumours are to be believed the income stream will come from simply because you can use very similar commands as for example in Google to filter results so you can tweak Twitter search queries so only relevant results are shown.
EXACT MATCH
Just like in Google you can use quotation marks to return exact phrases, such as:
“exeter chiefs”
EITHER / OR
Look at the above and some Exeter Chiefs fans may simply use the wording ‘chiefs’ so wouldn’t it be cool to be able to search for both queries in one query. Why do you ask would they not be using Exeter Chiefs, simple the 140 character limit may need a shortening of the search term.
“Exeter chiefs” or “chiefs”
GO LOCAL
I love this functionality, twitter search allows you to filter by location to only show results near you for example, you can see what people wish for, in the example below.
“I wish” near Bristol
With this you can also go by distance simply adding a within:xmi (miles) string in the search, so
I wish” near bristol within:10mi

Thats part one, be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed for part two.

Related posts you may wish to read:

1. Twitter Grader, how good is my Twitter?
2. Twitter Case Study – Westfield Shopping Centre London
3. How a small business can get started on Twitter
4. Twitter can make your business money
5. How do I auto follow on Twitter?