Twitter Update Now Lets Users Search Every Public Tweet Ever Sent

Twitter's new search update allows users to find any tweet ever sent.

ByABC News
November 18, 2014, 4:58 PM
A photo made on Nov. 7, 2013 shows an official Twitter account on a smartphone.
A photo made on Nov. 7, 2013 shows an official Twitter account on a smartphone.
Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images

— -- It's now surprisingly easy to search your own embarrassing Twitter history -- or that of any user.

Twitter updated its search tool today to allow users to search through the ever-growing list of a half trillion tweets that have been sent over the past eight years.

"Our long-standing goal has been to let people search through every Tweet ever published," Yi Zhuang, a search infrastructure engineer at Twitter, said in a blog post.

The search functionality remains the same, however, users will notice that Twitter now displays all relevant results. Previously, more current tweets with the highest engagement dominated the results.

Zhuang said the improved search infrastructure is ideal for getting the entire conversation, whether it's for a sports season, a conference or a trending hashtag, such as #Ferguson.

Twitter gave users the option in 2012 to download their personal library of tweets, however the new search capability is also ideal for quickly finding anything from your tenure on Twitter.

Simply type in a person's username plus a keyword and marvel at how easy it is to dig up the past.