This is the primary Saved Search overview article. If you need help troubleshooting, check out the Saved Search FAQ article here.
Update July 2023:
1. Twitter announced the deprecation of their API to certain access tiers, which resulted in CrowdTangle losing access and the ability to serve Twitter data. You can find more information here.
2. Reddit announced changes to their API, which resulted in CrowdTangle losing access and the ability to serve Reddit data. You can find more information here and here.
What is a Saved Search?
Saved Searches allow you to discover content containing specific words, phrases, names, URLs, or hashtags across some or all of the content in the CrowdTangle database. Unlike Lists, a Saved Search isn't necessarily constrained to specific Pages or accounts and can be used to spot new sources or even referral traffic.
*Note: CrowdTangle no longer surfaces Twitter data.
Why Would I Use a Saved Search?
To track the coverage of a specific event or election
To identify referral traffic and potential Branded Content partners (See how Cultura Colectiva is doing this)
To track the use of specific hashtags
Recent Updates
June 28th, 2018: You can now Search for Breaking News in Facebook dashboards using the Breaking News filter under the "More" dropdown
How Do I Use Saved Search?
Creating a Saved Search
To create a Saved Search, click on "New Search" under the "Saved Search" section of your left-side navigation bar.
For simple Searches, you can type your terms into the Search bar directly. There is no need to add quotations around phrases, but you can use commas to act as OR if you would like to Search for multiple terms:
The example above would find any posts with either the phrase "Facebook Live" or the word Instagram. CrowdTangle will Search its entire database for content. In a Facebook dashboard, for example, CrowdTangle would Search the content from every Page or profile it is currently tracking to find posts that match your criteria. Content from Pages or accounts that aren't in the CrowdTangle database will not show up in your Search.
Clicking on "More Search Options" will bring up additional fields for more complex queries:
All of these words: Any terms here will need to be in a post for Search to find it. Adding the words "Video", for example, would bring up any posts that had either both "Facebook Live" and Video or both Instagram and Video in them.
None of these words: Posts that include any words or phrases in this section will be excluded from the Search results. Adding the word "Video" here, for example, would return only posts that had either "Facebook Live" or Instagram in them but which did not contain the word "Video".
Remove Page(s) whose name includes this word or phrase: This is similar to the "None of these words" field, but CrowdTangle will only exclude content from Pages/accounts whose name contains any of the words or phrases here. This is often used to exclude your own content from Search results.
If you would like to limit your Search to Pages or accounts in specific Lists (or exclude content from specific Pages or accounts in a List), you can do that here. This is often used to Search through- or exclude- content from an organization's own Pages/accounts. This is especially handy when looking for referral traffic (see below).
Once your Search is set up, you can either perform a one time Search by clicking on the blue Search button, or you can save the Search by clicking on the black Save Search button. Saved Searches can be returned to at a later time and can also be pulled into Live Displays.
After saving your Search, you can Edit the Search to add additional queries for even more complex Searches:
Posts Tab
The results of your Search will show up under the Post tab. Click here to learn more.
Leaderboard Tab
The Leaderboard Tab allows you to compare the performance of the Pages/accounts whose content was surfaced in the Search. The Search Leaderboard will only factor in the performance of the specific pieces of content that matched the Search query. Click here to learn more.
Notifications Tab
The Notifications Tab allows you to create different types of e-mail and/or Slack notifications based on the Search. Click here to learn more.
Common Types of Searches
Talent/Athletes: Entertainment and Sports publishers often use Searches to track the coverage of their talent or athletes by setting up Searches for their names.
Local Stories: Setting up saved Searches that include the names of important local figures or the name of local cities or counties can help you stay on top of new stories.
Referral Traffic: When posts are shared on Facebook, Instagram the base URL of the publication is included in the post. Searching for your publication's base URL can show you who has been sharing your content. Be sure to exclude a List of your own content in the Search query.
Tracking Elections: You can track election coverage by setting up Searches for the candidates. Use this to compare your coverage to that of your competitors or to stay on top of breaking news stories. These Searches can also be pulled into an Election Live Display by creating a Post Stream column.
Tracking Other Events: You can track coverage of specific events by setting up Searches for the name of the events. Consider constraining the Search to a List that includes your competitors as well as your own Pages/accounts if you want to use the Leaderboard tab to compare the performance of your stories to theirs.
Hashtags: You can Search the CrowdTangle database for posts that include specific hashtags. Note: this will only surface content from Pages or accounts in the CrowdTangle database. CrowdTangle can't tell you if a particular hashtag is trending among private accounts.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Why are there posts missing from my Search?
A: CrowdTangle's Saved Searches only surface content from Pages/accounts in the CrowdTangle database. If there are Tweets or Posts that are missing, try adding those Pages/accounts to one of your Lists. Wait about 30 minutes and then try again. At that point, their content should show up in your Search.