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Topsy.com – search engine for tweeted links

This blog had recently got few trackbacks from Topsy, which brought it to my attention. With all of that micro-realtime-search craze and numerous online services doing nothing except leeching data of Twitter it takes some quality to keep my attention past first look.

Topsy search got that attention for conveniently combining a lot of scattered data on links appearing at Twitter in one place.

What it does

Topsy is search engine that specializes in very narrow field of data – links that were mentioned in status updates on Twitter.

What makes it interesting is how accurately that data is quantified and presented.

Multiply views

• straight search, tries to take user influence in account and since Topsy treats me as highly influential :) I don’t trust it much;
• link profile of specific Twitter user;
• link profile of specific site;
• link profile of specific page (plus bookmarklet).

Strong features

Topsy juggles perfectly two factors (sheer amount of links and time frame) into clear picture that instantly splits links that were barely mentioned from those that made real impact.

It also seems to take good care of old links.

These are simple things, really… Except that native Twitter search fails miserably at both.

Needs and wants

I don’t see it offering any analogue of Twitter trends. Search may be nice but it is no Google and I like the idea of quality popular links when I simply want something to skim, roughly what oursignal offers.

For collection of interesting data it also utterly lacks means of getting it out. No RSS in sight and Topsy API is currently in closed beta.

Overall

Best tool to get a slice of link-scape on Twitter. I have doubts about actual value as search engine, but I am no big fan of idea anyway.

Link http://topsy.com/

Twitter http://twitter.com/topsy