diff --git a/twitter_tag/models.py b/twitter_tag/models.py
index e96eb0b..4ee53b1 100644
--- a/twitter_tag/models.py
+++ b/twitter_tag/models.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 
 class TwitterConf(AppConf):
+    CONNECTION_TIMEOUT = 15
     class Meta:
         prefix = 'twitter'
-        required = ['OAUTH_TOKEN', 'OAUTH_SECRET', 'CONSUMER_KEY', 'CONSUMER_SECRET']
\ No newline at end of file
+        required = ['OAUTH_TOKEN', 'OAUTH_SECRET', 'CONSUMER_KEY', 'CONSUMER_SECRET']
diff --git a/twitter_tag/templatetags/twitter_tag.py b/twitter_tag/templatetags/twitter_tag.py
index 00508a6..9063e91 100644
--- a/twitter_tag/templatetags/twitter_tag.py
+++ b/twitter_tag/templatetags/twitter_tag.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ def render_tag(self, context, **kwargs):
                                          settings.TWITTER_OAUTH_SECRET,
                                          settings.TWITTER_CONSUMER_KEY,
                                          settings.TWITTER_CONSUMER_SECRET))
+            kwargs['_timeout'] = settings.TWITTER_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT
             json = self.get_json(twitter, **self.get_api_call_params(**kwargs))
         except (TwitterError, URLError, ValueError, http_client.HTTPException) as e:
             logging.getLogger(__name__).error(str(e))
@@ -134,4 +135,4 @@ def get_json(self, twitter, **kwargs):
 
 
 register.tag(UserTag)
-register.tag(SearchTag)
\ No newline at end of file
+register.tag(SearchTag)