The (sampled) streaming API is good for collecting representative aggregate statistics on the public timeline, or full data on limited subsets. If you already know what keywords you're looking for, you can use the search API to find all mentions, but if you want to identify clusters of emerging topics, having a representative sample is almost as good as the full data in many cases. That gives you something to go back and run through the search API. If there wasn't enough traffic for it to show up in the sample, it probably isn't an emerging topic, and if you already know what topic keyword you're looking for, it will usually show up promptly in the search API.
On May 21, 10:44 am, developerinlondon <[email protected]> wrote: > Ah I see, makes sense. Thanks. > > This API being Streaming means I can constantly stay connected to it > without risking being banned. Correct? > Would be useful to stay connected to the Spritzer call. Although I am > confused what practical use it would be if I am getting a small > portion as its a small percentage, meaning I may lose out on certain > keywords if I am keeping an eye on them? > > On May 21, 2:12 pm, John Kalucki <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The Streaming API /follow resource does not create new followings. > > Instead, it filters the stream of all public statuses created by a > > list of users. Perhaps the nomenclature is confusing. > > > You probably observed a time period when the given small list of users > > did not update their status. The newlines are keep-alive probes. > > > -John Kalucki > > Services, Twitter Inc. > > > On May 21, 4:22 am, developerinlondon <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I tried using the stream API call documented > > > here:http://apiwiki.twitter.com/Streaming-API-Documentation#Connecting > > > At the bottom there is the following example - > > > > Example: Create a file called 'following' that contains, exactly and > > > excluding the quotation marks: "follow=12 13 15 16 20 87". Execute: > > > curl -d @followinghttp://stream.twitter.com/follow.json- > > > uAnyTwitterUser:Password.You will receive JSON updates from Jack Biz, > > > Crystal, Ev, Krissy, but not from Jeremy, as he's a private user. > > > > I tried running it exactly as described. But my Curl just keeps > > > throwing blank lines at me and I checked the user didnt get any new > > > followings. > > > > Would be great to know. > > > > thanks, > > > > -developerinlondon
