Twitter search is better than it sed to be, but still, finding people on Twitter is not easy.

Here are three ways to find the people you are looking for whether you are looking for old friends or you want to meet new people.

Twitter’s own people search lets you search for people you know by entering a first name, a last name or a username.

I’ve never had any luck finding friends this way — it only really works with usernames, for some reason, and I haven’t had much luck guessing people’s usernames.

If you want to meet new people on Twitter who share your interests, Twitter suggests people you might want to follow (this tool is located behind the Find People link in the top menu).

My tweets and Twitter friends all share the common themes of web search and digital learning. My top three suggestions are not remotely related: cultural gossip from Los Angeles, the world’s third-largest steerable radio telescope and a girl called Allison who introdces herself like this: “hi there, i’m ali. i’m in a band called a fine frenzy. life is funny. let’s have a laugh”.

So I decided to go elswhere for Twitter people search. I found three interesting tools:

Twellow

At the time of writing, Twellow has indexed 1,615,382 people in their database.

If you don’t find yourself among them, don’t panic. You can add yourself, modify your profile, edit Twitter info, add yourself to up to 10 categories, and include a biography. You can even add links to your profiles on other social networks.

You can search Twellow by name, location or category.

The search results are easy to browse and each entry contains avatar, real name, username, latest tweet, number of followers, short bio, location and links to other social networks. By default, Twellow sorts people by their number of followers, but you have the option to filter by recent activity.

You can also browse by category to find people who share your interests. A recently added feature lets you log in and browse your friends and followers. Because profiles on Twellow can contain a lot more info than a Twitter profile, this feature can reveal some interesting information.

The downside: Twellow is really ugly and it is complicated to edit user info.

Just Tweet It

Just Tweet It is a do-it-yourself directory where you add yourself in the category of your choice. You find people by searching or browsing by category.

I found the number of categories to my liking — many enough that most people will find one that fits, but not so many it gets confusing. Signing up, you get to add your Twitter URL, avatar, and a short description.

You can subscribe to new entries in the individual categories by rss in case you want to be informed of new additions.

The downside: Listings appear to be on a first come first serve basis and unfortunately there is no way to sort or filter the information, so as the directory fills up, it might get hard to find your way around.

TwitterPacks

TwitterPacks is a wiki style directory.

Entries are organized in “packs” by topic, interest, location, company, and events. You an browse these packs or perform a search. The Autopack tool lets you follow and Twitter users automatically based on their pack.

There is a category for everyone — and then some (how about juice fasting, paper crafts or moustaches?), so this is a great place to connect with like minded individuals whatever your interest.

The downside: Anyone can add or delete information, so there is a risk that someone modifies your listing. The information about each entry is scant: All you get to add is your Twitter URL and a short description.

You might also like these articles

3 ways to search Twitter
What is Twitter authority search?
5 fun things to do with Twitter