Earlier today Karyn Silverman, aka @InfoWitch asked for suggestions on archiving all her Computers in Libraries 2010 tweets. Kate, aka @itsjustkatewondered about the same thing since her method involved using print screen to get hers into reports.
I was about to suggest to them both that they use the TwapperKeeper.com #CIL2010 archive when the alert that @InfoWitch’s export was ready.
While Twitter’s own internal search has improved overtime, its still best suited for small result sets and there are times when it is simply not available or working in a scaled back, near real-time mode. Services like TwapperKeeper are great because they start gathering the archive the moment someone creates the Notebook. In the case of #CIL2010, I create it around noon on December 16, 2009 so it has tweets with that hashtag going back to before the conference, and then through the conference, and right up to @InfoWitch’s request this morning.
Even if all you want are your own Tweets, the TwapperKeeper notebook is a good choice. The Notebook may contain thousands of entries, but the downloaded version is in CSV format so its child’s play to apply a filter in Excel, Open Office, or Google Docs to limit the rows to your own.
If you are going to an event or just want to have easy access to an individual’s Tweets, just head over to TwapperKeeper.com and start a notebook. One of my personal favorites is the @FakeAPStylebook notebook I created to ensure I didn’t miss any of their snarky gems.
