The search uses the Twitter decahose ( 10% random sample of Tweets) plus Brandwatch’s archive of online conversation. The company applies spam filtering and metadata indexing to ensure accurate and relevant data.

Pat Phelan, executive vice-president of global customer success at Brandwatch, said: “Speed isn’t usually seen as important in regards to historical data. But the large socially mature companies we work with want immediate answers to a number of varied questions each day.

“Discovering exactly what consumers think about the latest new hair trend, for example, is almost impossible to do quickly, without a reliable backlog of historical data. With Unlimited Historical Data, these complex questions can be answered in a matter of minutes.”