get replies for a specific tweet using rtweet

get_replies.R

## issues: 
## -only gets replies within last ~7 days to the post due to public REST API limits
## -counts don't necessarily align with total replies via browser, perhaps due to private accounts (?)

get_replies <- function(tweetid){
  # get status information for given tweet
  t <- rtweet::lookup_statuses(statuses = tweetid, token = ryan_rtweets)
  
  # use search API to find all tweets directed to the poster
  # and keep only replied to that status
  z <- rtweet::search_tweets(q = paste0("to:",t$screen_name), 
                             sinceID = tweetid,
                             n = 3200,
                             retryonratelimit = TRUE,
                             token = ryan_rtweets)
  
  if(nrow(z)!=0){
    # keep only replies to tweetid status
    z <- subset(z, reply_to_status_id == tweetid)
    
    # combine original tweet and replies (created option to include or not original tweets)
    # z <- rbind(t, z)
    
    # return dataframe 
    return(z)
  } else {
    # save users that returned no replies
    # prevent running first two steps if see that users has no replies in RESTapi
  }
}

tweetid <- "998970022474199041"
z <- get_replies(tweetid)

# to get multiple; install purrr if you do not have it
tweetid <- c("998662565222895618","998602734386458626")

z <- purrr::map_df(tweetid, get_replies)