The t command-line Twitter tool is a great way to work with Twitter information in a spreadsheet.
Its homepage with good installation instructions is here:
And I've written some related instructions about how to get an authentication token from Twitter:
http://www.compjour.org/tutorials/twitter-app-authentication-process/
Once you have it installed and you're authenticated, you can do a basic search for Tweets like this:
$ t search all 'migrahack'The default behavior is to present the tweets in a human-readable format:
@JeronimoSaldana
Anyone else at JFK's Terminal 5 with 2 hours to kill before heading to Chicago for #MigraHack?
Pues, let's hang out! :D
@MSFTChicago
Tomorrow — uncover the trends and stories hidden in #data at @Migrahack:
https://t.co/ROh6PcUPr4
@fairtrade_Ervin
RT @Lyndab08: Excited for @Migrahack 2016 this weekend. #migrahack https://t.co/8FDNnJBUeh
@fairtrade_Ervin
RT @JeronimoSaldana: So excited to attend @Migrahack #Migrahack in Chicago this weekend!
#Not1More https://t.co/AzYZcB3OaR
@fairtrade_Ervin
RT @Not1_More: Roll-Call! Who’s coming to #Migrahack in Chicago this weekend?
@ijjnews
RT @Don_Rubiel: Ready for #migrahack https://t.co/Upwe1UeAMR
@marisa_franco
RT @JeronimoSaldana: So excited to attend @Migrahack #Migrahack in Chicago this weekend!
#Not1More https://t.co/AzYZcB3OaR
@Laura_GlobalEd
@JeronimoSaldana @Migrahack Looks like an awesome idea!
But you can get them in CSV format using the --csv flag:
$ t search all 'migrahack' --csv| ID | Posted at | Screen name | Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| 707951040855982080 | 2016-03-10 15:27:35 +0000 | MaiAndy | RT @nkhensley: Saturday. #NICAR16 https://t.co/IBbqmP8KIo |
| 707950349508739072 | 2016-03-10 15:24:51 +0000 | ashlynstill | RT @Lindzcook: Join @ashlynstill and me in Denver 4 at 9am to learn programming concepts using fun games! Great place to start for newcomers #NICAR16 |
| 707950090355216384 | 2016-03-10 15:23:49 +0000 | karanormal | It's a beautiful day to live in Denver... Because #NICAR16. |
| 707949741179428864 | 2016-03-10 15:22:26 +0000 | HBCompass | Starting off #NICAR16 by tilting off a bench just in case everyone didn't know I'm awkward as hell. https://t.co/9HJ1Z6lvFT |
| 707949606831665153 | 2016-03-10 15:21:53 +0000 | nkhensley | Saturday. #NICAR16 https://t.co/IBbqmP8KIo |
| 707949340040548352 | 2016-03-10 15:20:50 +0000 | AlexSecanove | RT @biologypartners: Investigative journalists & data miners: welcome to Colorado. There are some exciting data analytics startups here for you to meet. #NICAR16 |
| 707949060238344193 | 2016-03-10 15:19:43 +0000 | natecarlisle | And @TonySemerad and I just landed at DEN. Next stop: #NICAR16 |
| 707949028881731585 | 2016-03-10 15:19:36 +0000 | michelleminkoff | Let #nicar16 officially begin -- my uniform is on! It's go time! https://t.co/K2Z2DIfu04 |
| 707948651151122433 | 2016-03-10 15:18:06 +0000 | ryanngro | My sixth NICAR conf and the first where I fell asleep before midnight on the first night. Losing my touch. #NICAR16 |
| 707948445131268096 | 2016-03-10 15:17:17 +0000 | 1GKh | RT @FerretScot: If you're interested in investigative journalism it's worth keeping an eye on #NICAR16 as it unfolds |
| 707948358275444736 | 2016-03-10 15:16:56 +0000 | cjsinner | SUPER excited for my first #NICAR16 😁😁😁 |
By default, 20 of the most recent tweets are returned. You can change this by using the -n flag; I believe the max nunber of results is capped at 3200, or, however many tweets have been posted in the last 7 days with the queried term.
And of course, you most likely want to be piping this directly into a text file that you can open up in Excel or what have you:
$ t search all 'migrahack' --csv -n 3200 > migrahack16tweets.csvThe t search subcommand lets you narrow the query to just your own timeline (t search timeline 'migrahack') or even to a specific list. Run t search help to see the descriptions:
t search all QUERY # Returns the 20 most recent Tweets that match the specified query.
t search favorites [USER] QUERY # Returns Tweets you've favorited that match the specified query.
t search help [COMMAND] # Describe subcommands or one specific subcommand
t search list [USER/]LIST QUERY # Returns Tweets on a list that match the specified query.
t search mentions QUERY # Returns Tweets mentioning you that match the specified query.
t search retweets [USER] QUERY # Returns Tweets you've retweeted that match the specified query.
t search timeline [USER] QUERY # Returns Tweets in your timeline that match the specified query.
t search users QUERY # Returns users that match the specified query.This is also a good time to try out csvkit, rather than using a spreadsheet.
Use csvcut with the -n flag to see the headers:
$ csvcut -n migrahack16tweets.csv
1: ID
2: Posted at
3: Screen name
4: TextHere's how to get the most frequent users (by screen name) of the hashtag in the set of tweets you've downloaded:
$ csvcut -c 'Screen name' migrahack16tweets.csv | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn 82 BizJournalism
20 MacDiva
19 ultracasual
18 Jeremy_CF_Lin
17 IRE_NICAR
15 tbtprojx
15 RajneeshB
14 palewire
13 brentajones
13 KateReports
13 DanielleAlberti
12 seecmb
12 benlkeith
12 KarrieKehoe
12 HacksHackersCO
11 livlab
11 dougfisher
10 wjchat
10 harrisj
9 onyxfish
If you need yet another example of why you should stay away from Excel (and any other spreadsheet, but mostly Excel on OS X) until you absolutely need a spreadsheet, you will get this inexplicable error when opening up the csv file provided by t if you're on OS X:
The reason? Because when the first letters in a file are ID, this causes Excel to shit itself. It's hard to imagine the logic that went into that decision to hardcode ID as a magic word: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/215591
