Tweet Archive

[WilliamBay]

I'm planning to create a Tweet Archive on my WordPress install.

Ideally each tweet would be a separate entry in the database. That would mean that each one could essentially have it's own page.

I think that if each had it's own page though, it would just create a very deep site with super shallow almost non-existant content.

I am pretty sure I know the answer to this, I'm just looking for some substantiation...

Should I just keep it as a list and not have each tweet exist as a separate page?

[RyanKent]

I currently have a Tweet feed. All tweets which match my search criteria are posted to my site in a forum section just for this purpose. By keeping tweets as their own posts, I can update them real-time and easily remove spam.

This process could be expanded upon by having an end-of-day cron job which takes all the individual posts and compiles them into a single daily summary.

[WilliamBay]

Thanks for the response Ryan.

What spam would you be dealing with if they were just an unordered list?

[RyanKent]

If you only follow activity from a tweeter, let's say SEOmoz for example, then you are pretty safe.

If you include any tweets to SEOmoz or mentions of SEOmoz, then you are opening yourself up to the world and anyone can say anything. Since SEOmoz is a reputable group, you will still most likely be ok, but occasionally can encounter an issue.

If you actually follow a hashtag such as #SEO, then you open yourself up even further to spam.

[WilliamBay]

I still think I'm a little unclear where the spam will be an issue. On your website? On Twitter?

How does the spam you're talking about show up?

Thanks!

[RyanKent]

You brought up the topic of spam in your first reply to me. By spam, I am thinking you are referring to undesired content.

It is common for tweet trackers to follow hashtags associated with their site. For example, you may have a site which talks about corvettes. As part of your tweet tracker you may follow the #vette has tag. It would not be uncommon for someone to tweet an inappropriate tweet to #vette. You probably would want to filter that tweet out of any data you collect.

[WilliamBay]

Thanks Ryan,

Just for clarity, the topic was brought up by you. "By keeping tweets as their own posts, I can update them real-time and easily remove spam."

And for some further clarity, this idea of archiving would only be to archive tweets that I have produced, not tweets by anyone else.

[RyanKent]

Ah, so it was me! You are absolutely correct, my apologies.

Of course, if you only wish to follow the outgoing tweets from an account you control then there would not be any spam concerns.