While everyone asks if the Balloon Boy flight was a hoax or not, there’s no doubt that spammers are for real and this week Twitter made it easier to nail problem accounts.

The flying tinfoil chef’s hat created a media feeding frenzy, which shouldn’t be confused with a Twitter feeding frenzy. While it might not get you a reality TV show, using pictures with Tweets can engage people and attract followers (hat tip @zaibatsu).

Balloon Boy wasn’t the only one soaring as we learned that Facebook soars while Twitter slows and Gourmet magazine sank, but don’t blame Twitter. The truth also came out this week as we jolly well asked if there’s such a thing as a secret anymore with Twitter all around us. There has to be better ways to get through, especially since email no longer rules.

But if you’re into tinkering with crazy devices in your online backyard, try out your own jQuery Twitter ticker, implement a Twitter reactions badge with Juitter and jQuery (if you dare), keep plugged in with WordPress and Powerpoint or draw your own conversations. And before you go soaring, make sure you have a good soundtrack, such as starting with these rock bands on Twitter.

Yet when you really think about it, what kind of person would actually get into an unproven contraption? A dummy? And does their social class determine their online social network? Or would seeing the right doctor make a difference? Perhaps it’s time they learned some etiquette, such as from their teachers or from top colleges.

After all the balloon boy hype, if it turns out that nothing really happened, would that be like a Seinfeld episode? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, you might ask yourself, Are you Tweet worthy? Quick, check with the Seinfeld cast.

Ever wanted to search through the tweets from one specific person? Looks like I’m not the only one. Read on for your options.

1. If the tweets are from within the past 10 days or so, you can use Twitter’s search engine with the syntax from:username [keywords]. Here’s the link if you wanted to search for recent tweets from Danny Sullivan that included the word “Google”.
   from:danny sullivan google
2. But what if you want to go back further than 10 days? Twitter tends to drop results after 10 days, but Google doesn’t. Perform a site-specific Google search of the Twitter user’s account using the syntax site:twitter.com/username [keywords]. Here’s what it looks like if you wanted to search all tweets from St. Charles Church’s Twitter account that include the word “Mass”:
   site:twitter.com mass
   (I’ve added the following parameters to the URL: &pws=0 to turn off personalization, &filter=0 to include supplemental results and &num=100 to get 100 results on a page instead of just 10 blue links.
3. Another options is Searchtastic.com, which will perform a similar search as Google (albeit slowly). Here’s the previous query repeated on Searchtastic. The strength of this new tool is the ability to search through a user’s tweets along with the people that user follows. Very helpful for tracking down conversations, especially when some tweets out a request for a recommendation and doesn’t bother to share the results. (If you turn to your followers for an answer then don’t you think they might be interested in the answer as well?)

Those are the options I use, but I’m sure there are others. How do you search an individual’s Twitter stream?

Update – October 22, 2009: Bing is getting in on the searching Twitter action, which is generating a lot of attention. Not to be outdone, Google announced a similar plan albeit without a specific date. Nevertheless, Google succeeded in diluting the perceived exclusiveness of Bing’s announcement by inserting itself into the same news cycle.

In a week where President Obama won the Nobel Prize (ooh, prizes announced on Twitter; big whoop says UK’s High Court) after being nominated less than a fortnight into his term, will one of your aspirational tweets lead to a Pulitzer Prize? Let’s look at more prize developments in the Twitterverse this week.

KANYE WEST AWARD

Make your acceptance speech better with Speakers: Learn from Twitter Hecklers from DontGetCaught.biz and How Speakers Should Integrate Social Into Their Presentation from Web-Strategist.com.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

6 Great Twitter Quiz and Polling Apps from ReadWriteWeb.com.

ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

@copyblogger says “What if you could only speak in 140 character snippets in real life? Hilarious video” [warning: crude]. Or more literally, was the best picture this image of Twitter vs Facebook vs MySpace from the Chicago Tribune? Or perhaps Visualizing conversations on Twitter and Flickr from Flink Labs?

And while we’re out on the red carpet, let’s take a look at Who Rules The Social Web? from InformationIsBeautiful.net.

EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

Workers of the world–unite. But not online. A Majority of Companies Prohibit Social Networking on the Job, CIO Survey Reveals says Robert Haft, Companies Say No to Friending or Tweeting according to Law.com, which leads to Oh the Irony from StopBlocking.org.

TEACHER OF THE YEAR

100 Twitter Feeds To Make You a Better Teacher from OnlineCourses.org

HANDYMAN OF THE YEAR

Whoever gets this prize might use The Software Developer’s Ultimate Guide to Twitter Tools from PDFConverter.com or Ident Engine’s javascript library that retrieves and aggregates profiles from across the web.

TWITTER PRIES DATA OUT OF THE STREAM

Twitter Talking Separately to Microsoft and Google About Big Data-Mining Deals according to All Things D, Uncovering Connections on Twitter Could Become Big Business says ReadWriteWeb.com and is Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery? asks Nielsen. Brian Solis was Revealing the People Defining Social Networks as The Speed of Share (TechCrunch) made Clive Thompson wonder How the Real-Time Web Is Leaving Google Behind.

MILE HIGH INDUCTEE

Lufthansa will tweet your altitude, location and departure/arrival times for you. Adobe Air not required.

THE GOLDEN NUGGET

Golden Twitter Nuggets & Takeaways From SMX East from Search Engine Land.

WWWTWITTER.com: BEST WEBSITE EVER?

EYES ON THE PRIZE

TweetMeme Analytics Show You How Retweets Spread on Twitter (Mashable), Tweetmeme and TechCrunch.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN TWEET

So Your Client Says They Want to Get on Twitter (CSS-Tricks.com) then here’s How to Demo Twitter (AllTop) and then tell them about Using Twitter to Form Communities of Practice (eLearningStuff) and What Can Twitter Do for My Library and Community. If they’re still not sure, hand them the Twitter Decision Flowchart, but make sure they know about the Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About (The Oatmeal.com).

But what should they tweet about? WordPress users can now automatically tweet new posts if you want to go with the quasi-robot approach. CMS on Twitter Poll Results shows a more personal touch by asking your audience instead of assuming you know. One thing you may not want to know is exactly where your audience is tweeting, such as from the bathroom as Tweeting More Ubiquitous Than Other Electronic Socializing (Media Post).

LONGEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES

Long lists still rule.

CRACKER JACK PRIZE — IT’S FREE

FREE PowerPoint Twitter Tools from SapWeb 2.0.

And if we had a Twitter comedian handing out these prizes, they might say “Hey, you know how journalists count? 1… 2… Trend!” (from @sdkstl via  @r).

Who else deserves a Twitter prize this week? We could try Crowdeye Twitter Search and Your Headlines on Twitter from TwittLink and Find shareable lists of people on Twitter from TwilList for ideas, but I’d rather hear who you’d nominate this week. Share them below.