Twitter Search by Metro Area

·       Twitter, a micro-blogging service, is rapidly growing in popularity, especially among 25-35 year old mobile phone users which represent a big segment of the candidates you need. Twitter allows people to communicate with their network "on the road" or away from their computers. Millions of people post anything from updates on events to breaking news, gossip, tips, and even "insider info." These short tweets (maximum 140-character messages) are public and thus searchable! In fact, you can go beyond simple keyword/phrase searches to find relevant people by location. For example, find someone who tweets the word SQL and lives within 25 miles of Boston by searching like this:

sql near:Boston within:25mi

Or specify any distance radius in kilometers, which is great for international searches such as:

sql near:Amsterdam within:50km

Other ideas? Type a conference name to find people talking about that event (who are likely attendees and panelists). For more ideas, see our Sourcer's Desk