New Media and Politics -- Technology

Checking on multiple searches of Twitter api with Archivist -- 0723/09

These are notes about doing some experiments to find out if there is an upper limit on how many searches can be run on a single computer. Most recent notes at the top, and first notes at the bottom.

I ran 4 on one and 1 on each of two others, and the two that were searched on two computers matched.

I may have learned that searching for terms beginning with a # may not work. It did not work when I did it, but there may be something else at stake. It would be pretty bad if it would not update the search for # terms since that is a very popular way of coordinating communication.

It took a couple of weeks, and several iterations, but they finally got the program working right -- at least, I believe it is working right.

What the hashtag http://wthashtag.com/hashtag is a site that follows tweets for hashtags that are proposed by visitors. It invites viewers to add a description of the hashtag and what it is about. It does search and saves number of tweets. It finds fewer tweets than does Archivist. However, the hashtag may well be identified for following before I 'get there.' In this case it gives a history that can be helpful.