Sifter FAQ
This page has information about using Sifter to license data from the complete, undeleted history of Twitter. Many first time Sifter users assume they are buying direct access to the data. In fact, Sifter is a tool that allows you to license the data for analysis on DiscoverText in compliance with the Twitter Terms of Service. After a Sifter user accepts an estimate, we send a PayPal invoice so you can complete the license transaction using a credit card. Once the transaction is complete, we start the download from Twitter to your DiscoverText account.
- ★ Are there recent changes to the Twitter documentation for Gnip PowerTrack?
- ★ I need one year of historical Twitter and do not have much money. How can I reduce the cost?
- ★ How do I download the Twitter data that I just purchased using Sifter?
- ★ How long will it take to get the data?
- ★ What's in the metadata of Gnip historical PowerTrack jobs?
- ★ Why is there less metadata in older historical Twitter?
- ★ What happened to the academic and Twitter login discounts?
- Why am I unable to find very old (historical) Twitter tweets?
- Why are there so few results when using Twitter's (Gnip PowerTrack) geo (geographic) rules?
- Can I get access to Twitter data via Twitter’s developer API?
- Why is the number of data items (e.g., tweets) different from the Sifter estimate?
- How long is my data kept if I let my subscription expire? Can I access my data if I renew my subscription?
- What time zone is used when searching Twitter tweets within a date range?
- How can I use DiscoverText and Sifter to obtain and analyze Twitter tweets?
- Can Sifter capture tweets from two (or more) specific accounts?
- How can I download a CSV data file containing Sifter data?
- Can I export an archive containing Twitter data?
- How can I download large volumes of Twitter data (i.e., greater than 50,000 tweets)?
- How can I get more results if the number of Estimated Activities is very low (100 tweets or less)?
- Why is the data for my estimates split into several archives?
- Why did I receive lots of Sifter errors when requesting an estimate?
- When can I expect to receive Sifter data paid for via PayPal?
- Why does a Gnip PowerTrack Twitter estimate with a shorter time duration have more tweets and cost more than for a longer duration?
- Can we get around the 50,000/day limit on the save as CSV option?
- Why is my Sifter data broken up into 50,000 item archives? Can I regroup them altogether?
- Do you keep historical Twitter data? How much does it cost? Is access based on a subscription?
- Can I get historic Twitter data for a hashtag and how much does it cost?
- Do I need two accounts, one for Sifter and another for DiscoverText?
- What are the terms of use to download data?
- Can Sifter handle Chinese search terms?