Twitter overhauls search, makes it simpler, smarter and more personal

Ah ha! So this is what that exec who said that Twitter search and discovery was set to “change forever” was talking about. The social network just announced an update that will make searching for users and topics on the platform easier and even more personalised.

Ever tweeted about a topic only to realise you’re using the wrong hashtag? Now Twitter will offer you suggestions via an autocomplete function to let you know what terms most people are using in their tweets. Not interested in what the rest of the world is nattering on about, but more concerned with the conversation in your network? You can now tailor search results to show what ‘people you know’ are saying about that topic, along with the usual ‘top’ and ‘all’ options.

They’ve also improved their search functionality so that it will start suggesting users to follow without leaving the page you’re on — something which has been lacking so far. If you start typing a user’s name, it will suggest relevant Twitter accounts, even if they have a seemingly unrelated Twitter handle. Misspell the name or search term? Twitter will now pull a Google and suggest what you might have actually been searching for.

These updates are just a few of the changes the Twitter team has rolled out recently — they’ve also been adding aspects like tailored trends and a more personalised Discover tab in an effort to make all the buzz more relevant to users.

The updates are already live in some parts of the world, but it looks like other regions will have to wait for the gradual roll out. The updates apply to the web version of Twitter, as well as their iPhone and Android apps.

Image: Twitter.