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rrtweet

No search results for a # that really exists


I am analysing #angtunaynalalake or #AngTunayNaLalake - a tweet that is famous in the Philippines. I run the following code but there are 0 results. I tried the same code using other famous #s like #MeToo or as #rstats and the code was successful. I tried using 'lalake' instead of '#angtunaynalalake' and again the code was successful.

I was able to get results for #angtunaynalalake when I use twitteR. I want to use rtweet because it can give more search results than twitteR.

Why do you think this happens?

create_token(
  app = "my_twitter_research_app",
  consumer_key = "xxxx",
  consumer_secret = "xxxx",
  access_token = "xxxx",
  access_secret = "xxxx")


> rt <- search_tweets(
+   "#angtunaynalalake", n = 25000, retryonratelimit = TRUE
+ )

Searching for tweets... This may take a few seconds... Finished collecting tweets!

> rt

data frame with 0 columns and 0 rows '''


Solution

  • This is an issue with the twitter API and not with the rtweet package.

    See this quote from the twitter API page.

    "Keep in mind that the search index has a 7-day limit. In other words, no tweets will be found for a date older than one week."

    The most recent tweet to #angtunaynalalake seems to have been in January 2019, therefore the standard twitter API won't find any tweets.

    If you need to access tweets older than 7-days, consider the twitter API pricing plans.