Real time search and discovery engine Topsy is releasing a bunch of new products and tools this afternoon.
Topsy is all about the power of the ReTweet on Twitter. When the service first launched publicly in May we noted that ReTweets are the new currency of the web. And it isn’t just the number of retweets that matters (which is subject to large scale spamming efforts). It’s the authority of the people doing the retweeting, too.
One way Topsy is distinguishing itself from competitors like OneRiot and TweetMeme is by holding on to data forever. Most real time search engines are focused on right now, which is exactly what people want. But they dump data periodically, and anyone looking for older stuff won’t be able to find it. Here’s a sample search for “skype andreessen” on OneRiot (4 resutls), TweetMeme (0 results) and Topsy (37 pages of results, which can be sorted and filtered by time). So when you want to look up old Tweets around a link, Topsy has the data that no one else is currently showing.
Topsy TopLinks
Today Topsy is releasing new lists of top links being shared on Twitter at any given time. The product is called Topsy TopLinks. There are lists for the Top 100, Top 1,000 and Top 5,000 links. You can also search within the lists – example.
Users can grab RSS feeds for TopLinks, or even feeds for searches within TopLinks.
Like Bit.ly Now and TweetMeme, Topsy TopLinks is a great way to see what’s hot on Twitter right now. And by using influence they cut out the spammy stuff.
Topsy ReTweet Button
Topsy is now offering a WordPress plugin that gives sites a TweetMeme-like retweet button. And it also shows any badges earned for the URL in TopLinks. Here’s how it looks:
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Advanced Query Syntax
Among the other changes at Topsy, the site now supports new advanced search queries.
from: – e.g. ‘from:Topsy influence’
Using this search query will limit your results to links about ‘influence’ that were posted by the Topsy account.
site: – e.g. ‘site:beta.alltechnewstime.com Topsy’
Using this search query will limit your results to links on the TechCrunch site that are about Topsy.
site: – e.g. ‘site:eu.beta.alltechnewstime.com twitter’
Using this search query will limit your results to links on the EU version of the TechCrunch site that include the term ‘twitter’.
site: – e.g. ‘site:wired.com/gadgets twitter’
Using this search query will limit your results to links that are within the gadgets section of the the wired.com site and include the term ‘twitter’.
We remain big fans of Topsy. They are amassing a huge long term database of popular links from Twitter, and allowing search and discovery against those links based on advanced search techniques and the idea of influence among Twitter users. The company is based in San Francisco, has 16 employees and has raised $15 million in venture funding.
