building-twitter-industry-watchlist

Builds a curated Twitter industry watchlist of key voices using apidojo's Twitter scrapers on Apify. Triggers when the user asks to: build a Twitter watchlist for an industry, find key Twitter accounts to follow in a niche, create a curated list of thought leaders in a sector on X, identify the most influential Twitter accounts in a business category, build a Twitter list for industry monitoring, find the signal-to-noise accounts in a topic area, or compile the must-follow accounts for staying current in an industry. Returns account list with handle, follower count, engagement rate, topic focus, and influence score. Ideal for business analysts, investors, executives, and professionals doing industry intelligence.

Building a Twitter Industry Watchlist

Identifies highest-signal Twitter accounts in an industry — people whose tweets consistently generate discussion, surface new information, or shape thinking in the space.

Prerequisites

• APIFY_TOKEN environment variable set
• Optional: Apify MCP server installed

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Notes
startUrls	array	Optional	[]	Twitter profile or tweet URLs
twitterHandles	array	Optional	[]	Twitter usernames (without @)
twitterUserIds	array	Optional	[]	Twitter user IDs
getFollowers	boolean	Optional	false	Extract follower lists
getFollowing	boolean	Optional	false	Extract following lists
getRetweeters	boolean	Optional	false	Extract retweeters of a tweet URL
includeUnavailableUsers	boolean	Optional	false	Include unavailable/suspended users
maxItems	number	Optional	Unlimited	Maximum users to return
customMapFunction	string	Optional	—	JavaScript function to transform each output object

Workflow

text

Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Search for high-engagement industry tweets
- [ ] Step 2: Collect influential account handles
- [ ] Step 3: Enrich and score
- [ ] Step 4: Classify by account type
- [ ] Step 5: Deliver curated watchlist

Step 1: Search Industry Conversations

Recommended — run_actor.js (handles waiting, output, and file saving automatically):

bash

# Quick answer (prints table to chat)
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~twitter-user-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}'

# Save as CSV
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~twitter-user-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.csv --format csv

# Save as JSON
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~twitter-user-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.json --format json

APIFY_TOKEN must be set in environment or .env file.

If Apify MCP is available:

text

Tool: apify:run-actor
Actor: "apidojo~tweet-scraper"
Input:
{
  "searchTerms": ["[INDUSTRY]", "#[industry]", "[INDUSTRY] trends", "[INDUSTRY] analysis"],
  "maxItems": 500
}

REST API fallback:

bash

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~tweet-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchTerms": ["venture capital", "#vc", "VC trends 2026"], "maxItems": 500}'

Collect authors with likeCount + replyCount >= 10 on their industry tweets.

Step 2: Score Influence

text

signal_score = (retweets / followers * 1000) * 0.35
             + (replies / followers * 1000) * 0.30
             + min(followers / 100000, 1) * 0.20
             + (tweeted_industry_content >= 3 in 30 days ? 1 : 0) * 0.15

Account type from bio:

• FOUNDER: "founder", "CEO", "built"
• INVESTOR: "partner", "VC", "investor"
• ANALYST: "analyst", "researcher", "writer"
• JOURNALIST: known pub or "reporter", "journalist"
• PRACTITIONER: role title at company

Step 3: Edge Cases

• Bot accounts: retweetCount >> likeCount → flag if retweets > 5× likes
• Ambiguous type: Use PRACTITIONER as default when unclear
• Multiple accounts from same company: Keep the most influential one

Output Format

text

# [INDUSTRY] Twitter Watchlist
Accounts: [N] | Date: [DATE]

## Founders & Operators
| Name | @Handle | Role | Followers | Avg Likes | Signal Score |
|------|---------|------|-----------|----------|-------------|

## Investors & Analysts
| Name | @Handle | Role | Followers | Signal Score |
|------|---------|------|-----------|-------------|

## Press & Media
| Name | @Handle | Publication | Followers | Signal Score |
|------|---------|------------|-----------|-------------|

## How to Create Twitter List
Go to Twitter → Lists → Create List → Add members by username

Troubleshooting

Results are news not insiders: Use #[industry] hashtag to find community members vs. general readers. Too many promotional accounts: Filter accounts where > 50% of tweets include external links. Watchlist too large: Apply score cutoff ≥ 0.60; keep ≤ 40 accounts for daily readability.