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Twitter Now Lets You Unearth Old Tweets in Search

Following an app and mobile update that streamlined search, Twitter has just made another tweak to its search function – on both mobile and web. Starting now, you can view old tweets in search r...
Twitter Now Lets You Unearth Old Tweets in Search
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Following an app and mobile update that streamlined search, Twitter has just made another tweak to its search function – on both mobile and web.

    Starting now, you can view old tweets in search results. Really old, in fact – months and months old.

    Before today, searches on Twitter would only display tweets that were about a week old or more recent.

    “As we roll this out over the coming days, the Tweets that you’ll see in search results represent a fairly small percentage of total Tweets ever sent. We look at a variety of types of engagement, like favorites, retweets and clicks, to determine which Tweets to show. We’ll be steadily increasing this percentage over time, and ultimately, aim to surface the best content for your query. For now, enjoy your trip down memory lane!” says Twitter.

    So you’re not going to get everything, but you’re going to get more. Any old tweets that you see must be engaging enough (either via retweets, favorites, or another form of popularity) to make the cut.

    You can try it out for yourself by searching a hashtag like #SpotTheShuttle. That search finds dozens upon dozens of tweets going all the way back to September 2012.

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