7. A method for alerting a user to abnormal micro-blog activity comprising: examining received micro-blog messages for abnormal activity; and alerting a user when the abnormal activity is detected further comprising the step of ranking the micro-blog messages on the basis of relevance to a search or alert request; wherein the step of alerting the user when abnormal activity is detected comprises the steps of: informing the user of the content of at least one micro-blog message having the best match to the search or alert request; and informing the user of the subject of additional micro-blog messages having a lesser match value to the search or alert request.
18. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of examining received micro-blog messages for abnormal activity is performed on a computer system.