diff --git a/.idea/dictionaries/kimchy.xml b/.idea/dictionaries/kimchy.xml
index a3b805e4f1c97..88a568e247f44 100644
--- a/.idea/dictionaries/kimchy.xml
+++ b/.idea/dictionaries/kimchy.xml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
       <w>encodable</w>
       <w>estab</w>
       <w>failover</w>
+      <w>firehose</w>
       <w>flushable</w>
       <w>formatter</w>
       <w>formatters</w>
diff --git a/.idea/modules/plugin-river-twitter.iml b/.idea/modules/plugin-river-twitter.iml
index 51120027adb98..a5af7aa369d64 100644
--- a/.idea/modules/plugin-river-twitter.iml
+++ b/.idea/modules/plugin-river-twitter.iml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     <orderEntry type="module-library">
       <library name="twitter4j">
         <CLASSES>
-          <root url="jar://$GRADLE_REPOSITORY$/org.twitter4j/twitter4j-core/jars/twitter4j-core-2.1.4.jar!/" />
+          <root url="jar://$GRADLE_REPOSITORY$/org.twitter4j/twitter4j-core/jars/twitter4j-core-2.1.6.jar!/" />
         </CLASSES>
         <JAVADOC />
         <SOURCES />
diff --git a/plugins/river/twitter/build.gradle b/plugins/river/twitter/build.gradle
index 4d39cacb8e263..7a5d40387199c 100644
--- a/plugins/river/twitter/build.gradle
+++ b/plugins/river/twitter/build.gradle
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ configurations {
 dependencies {
     compile project(':elasticsearch')
 
-    compile('org.twitter4j:twitter4j-core:2.1.4') { transitive = false }
-    distLib('org.twitter4j:twitter4j-core:2.1.4') { transitive = false }
+    compile('org.twitter4j:twitter4j-core:2.1.6') { transitive = false }
+    distLib('org.twitter4j:twitter4j-core:2.1.6') { transitive = false }
 
 
     testCompile project(':test-testng')
diff --git a/plugins/river/twitter/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/twitter/TwitterRiver.java b/plugins/river/twitter/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/twitter/TwitterRiver.java
index 046bd29902d6a..44556cfec1159 100644
--- a/plugins/river/twitter/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/twitter/TwitterRiver.java
+++ b/plugins/river/twitter/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/twitter/TwitterRiver.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Requests;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.action.bulk.BulkRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.block.ClusterBlockException;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@
 import twitter4j.*;
 
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
@@ -56,6 +58,10 @@ public class TwitterRiver extends AbstractRiverComponent implements River {
 
     private final int dropThreshold;
 
+    private FilterQuery filterQuery;
+
+    private String streamType;
+
 
     private final TwitterStream stream;
 
@@ -73,6 +79,84 @@ public class TwitterRiver extends AbstractRiverComponent implements River {
             Map<String, Object> twitterSettings = (Map<String, Object>) settings.settings().get("twitter");
             user = XContentMapValues.nodeStringValue(twitterSettings.get("user"), null);
             password = XContentMapValues.nodeStringValue(twitterSettings.get("password"), null);
+            streamType = XContentMapValues.nodeStringValue(twitterSettings.get("type"), "sample");
+            Map<String, Object> filterSettings = (Map<String, Object>) twitterSettings.get("filter");
+            if (filterSettings != null) {
+                filterQuery = new FilterQuery();
+                filterQuery.count(XContentMapValues.nodeIntegerValue(filterSettings.get("count"), 0));
+                Object tracks = filterSettings.get("tracks");
+                if (tracks != null) {
+                    if (tracks instanceof List) {
+                        List<String> lTracks = (List<String>) tracks;
+                        filterQuery.track(lTracks.toArray(new String[lTracks.size()]));
+                    } else {
+                        filterQuery.track(Strings.commaDelimitedListToStringArray(tracks.toString()));
+                    }
+                }
+                Object follow = filterSettings.get("follow");
+                if (follow != null) {
+                    if (follow instanceof List) {
+                        List lFollow = (List) follow;
+                        int[] followIds = new int[lFollow.size()];
+                        for (int i = 0; i < lFollow.size(); i++) {
+                            Object o = lFollow.get(i);
+                            if (o instanceof Number) {
+                                followIds[i] = ((Number) o).intValue();
+                            } else {
+                                followIds[i] = Integer.parseInt(o.toString());
+                            }
+                        }
+                        filterQuery.follow(followIds);
+                    } else {
+                        String[] ids = Strings.commaDelimitedListToStringArray(follow.toString());
+                        int[] followIds = new int[ids.length];
+                        for (int i = 0; i < ids.length; i++) {
+                            followIds[i] = Integer.parseInt(ids[i]);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                Object locations = filterSettings.get("locations");
+                if (locations != null) {
+                    if (locations instanceof List) {
+                        List lLocations = (List) locations;
+                        double[][] dLocations = new double[lLocations.size()][];
+                        for (int i = 0; i < lLocations.size(); i++) {
+                            Object loc = lLocations.get(i);
+                            double lat;
+                            double lon;
+                            if (loc instanceof List) {
+                                List lLoc = (List) loc;
+                                if (lLoc.get(0) instanceof Number) {
+                                    lat = ((Number) lLoc.get(0)).doubleValue();
+                                } else {
+                                    lat = Double.parseDouble(lLoc.get(0).toString());
+                                }
+                                if (lLoc.get(1) instanceof Number) {
+                                    lon = ((Number) lLoc.get(1)).doubleValue();
+                                } else {
+                                    lon = Double.parseDouble(lLoc.get(1).toString());
+                                }
+                            } else {
+                                String[] sLoc = Strings.commaDelimitedListToStringArray(loc.toString());
+                                lat = Double.parseDouble(sLoc[0]);
+                                lon = Double.parseDouble(sLoc[1]);
+                            }
+                            dLocations[i] = new double[]{lat, lon};
+                        }
+                        filterQuery.locations(dLocations);
+                    } else {
+                        String[] sLocations = Strings.commaDelimitedListToStringArray(locations.toString());
+                        double[][] dLocations = new double[sLocations.length / 2][];
+                        int dCounter = 0;
+                        for (int i = 0; i < sLocations.length; i++) {
+                            double lat = Double.parseDouble(sLocations[i]);
+                            double lon = Double.parseDouble(sLocations[++i]);
+                            dLocations[dCounter++] = new double[]{lat, lon};
+                        }
+                        filterQuery.locations(dLocations);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
         }
 
         logger.info("creating twitter stream river for [{}]", user);
@@ -80,7 +164,7 @@ public class TwitterRiver extends AbstractRiverComponent implements River {
         if (user == null || password == null) {
             stream = null;
             indexName = null;
-            typeName = null;
+            typeName = "status";
             bulkSize = 100;
             dropThreshold = 10;
             logger.warn("no user / password specified, disabling river...");
@@ -104,6 +188,9 @@ public class TwitterRiver extends AbstractRiverComponent implements River {
     }
 
     @Override public void start() {
+        if (stream == null) {
+            return;
+        }
         logger.info("starting twitter stream");
         try {
             String mapping = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject(typeName)
@@ -122,7 +209,17 @@ public class TwitterRiver extends AbstractRiverComponent implements River {
             }
         }
         currentRequest = client.prepareBulk();
-        stream.sample();
+        if (streamType.equals("filter") || filterQuery != null) {
+            try {
+                stream.filter(filterQuery);
+            } catch (TwitterException e) {
+                logger.warn("failed to create filter stream based on query, disabling river....");
+            }
+        } else if (streamType.equals("firehose")) {
+            stream.firehose(0);
+        } else {
+            stream.sample();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override public void close() {