Facebook Followers & Following Scraper

A powerful Apify actor for scraping Facebook profile followers and following lists. This actor efficiently extracts follower and following data from Facebook profiles with support for bulk processing, keyword filtering, sorting, and intelligent proxy fallback mechanisms.

Why Choose Us?

• Reliable Proxy Fallback: Automatically switches between direct connection, datacenter, and residential proxies to ensure successful data extraction
• Bulk Processing: Process multiple profiles simultaneously with support for URLs, usernames, and keywords
• Smart Filtering: Filter results by keywords to find specific users
• Flexible Sorting: Sort results alphabetically in ascending or descending order
• Comprehensive Data: Extract complete profile information including names, images, URLs, and metadata
• Apify Integration: Built on Apify platform with automatic dataset storage and key-value store backup

Key Features

• ✅ Scrape followers and following lists from Facebook profiles
• ✅ Support for bulk input (multiple URLs/usernames)
• ✅ Keyword-based filtering of results
• ✅ Alphabetical sorting (A-Z or Z-A)
• ✅ Intelligent proxy fallback (no proxy → datacenter → residential)
• ✅ Automatic retry logic with exponential backoff
• ✅ Real-time progress logging
• ✅ Pagination support for large lists
• ✅ Output in structured JSON format matching Apify dataset schema

Input

Input Schema

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/"
    },
    {
      "url": "username"
    }
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 50,
  "followType": "followers",
  "sort_order": "asc",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Input Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
startUrls	Array	Yes	List of Facebook profile URLs, usernames, or keywords. Supports full URLs (https://www.facebook.com/username), usernames (username), or keywords for filtering.
resultsLimit	Integer	No	Maximum number of results to collect per profile. Default: 50. Range: 1-10000.
followType	String	No	Type of data to scrape. Options: "followers", "following", or "" (empty for both). Default: "followers".
sort_order	String	No	Sort results alphabetically by name. Options: "asc" (A-Z) or "desc" (Z-A). Default: "asc".
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Apify proxy configuration. If not provided, starts with direct connection and automatically falls back to proxies if blocked.

Input Examples

Example 1: Single Profile with Followers

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/"
    }
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 100,
  "followType": "followers"
}

Example 2: Multiple Profiles with Both Followers and Following

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/profile1"
    },
    {
      "url": "profile2"
    }
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 50,
  "followType": "",
  "sort_order": "desc"
}

Example 3: With Keyword Filtering

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/"
    },
    {
      "url": "actor"
    }
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 200,
  "followType": "followers",
  "sort_order": "asc"
}

Note: If an entry in startUrls doesn't look like a URL, it will be treated as a keyword filter.

Output

Output Format

The actor outputs data in two formats:

1. Apify Dataset: Each item is pushed individually with the following structure:

{
  "username": "LeonardoDiCaprio",
  "facebookUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio",
  "followType": "followers",
  "id": "100043689482299",
  "image": "https://scontent...",
  "title": "Abed Alrahman",
  "subtitle_text": "Works at ‎كيك بوكسينك‎",
  "url": "https://www.facebook.com/people/Abed-Alrahman/100043689482299/",
  "privacy_scope": null,
  "__typename": "User",
  "__isEntity": "User",
  "facebookId": "YXBwX2NvbGxlY3Rpb246...",
  "navSections": [
    {
      "id": "...",
      "name": "Followers",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/followers"
    },
    {
      "id": "",
      "name": "Following",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/following"
    }
  ],
  "pageAdLibrary": {
    "is_business_page_active": false,
    "id": ""
  },
  "followersId": "...",
  "followingId": "",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio"
}

2. Key-Value Store (OUTPUT key): Complete JSON structure organized by username:

{
  "LeonardoDiCaprio": {
    "followers": {
      "results": [...],
      "total_extracted": 50,
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/"
    },
    "following": {
      "results": [...],
      "total_extracted": 30,
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/"
    }
  }
}

Output Fields

Field	Description
username	The profile username being scraped
facebookUrl	Original Facebook profile URL
followType	Type of data: "followers" or "following"
id	Facebook user ID
image	Profile image URL
title	User's display name
subtitle_text	User's subtitle/bio information
url	User's Facebook profile URL
privacy_scope	Privacy settings (usually null)
__typename	Entity type (usually "User")
__isEntity	Entity indicator
facebookId	Collection ID
navSections	Navigation sections for followers/following
pageAdLibrary	Ad library information
followersId	Followers collection ID
followingId	Following collection ID
inputUrl	Original input URL

🚀 How to Use the Actor (via Apify Console)

1. Log in at https://console.apify.com and go to Actors.
2. Find your actor (facebook-followers-following-scraper) and click it.
3. Configure inputs:
   • Add Facebook profile URLs or usernames in startUrls
   • Set resultsLimit (default: 50)
   • Choose followType (followers, following, or both)
   • Set sort_order (asc or desc)
   • Configure proxy settings if needed
4. Run the actor by clicking "Start".
5. Monitor logs in real time to see progress.
6. Access results in the OUTPUT tab:
   • View data in the Dataset view
   • Download as JSON or CSV
   • Access full JSON from Key-Value Store (OUTPUT key)

Best Use Cases

• Social Media Analysis: Analyze follower networks and connections
• Influencer Research: Identify followers of specific profiles
• Market Research: Understand audience demographics and connections
• Network Mapping: Map social connections between profiles
• Lead Generation: Find potential leads from follower lists
• Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitor follower bases

Proxy Fallback Mechanism

The actor implements an intelligent three-tier proxy fallback system:

1. Direct Connection: Starts with no proxy for fastest performance
2. Datacenter Proxy: If blocked, automatically switches to datacenter proxy
3. Residential Proxy: If datacenter fails, switches to residential proxy with 3 retries
4. Sticky Proxy: Once a proxy tier is successfully used, it sticks with that tier for all subsequent requests

All proxy events are logged clearly for monitoring and debugging.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I scrape private profiles?
A: No, this actor only scrapes publicly available follower/following lists. Private profiles cannot be accessed.

Q: What happens if a profile has millions of followers?
A: The actor respects the resultsLimit setting. Set it to the maximum number you want to collect (up to 10,000).

Q: How long does it take to scrape a profile?
A: Depends on the resultsLimit and number of pages. Approximately 1-2 seconds per page (8 items per page).

Q: Can I filter results by location or other criteria?
A: Currently, keyword filtering is supported. You can filter by keywords that appear in the user's name or subtitle.

Q: What if Facebook blocks my requests?
A: The actor automatically handles blocking by switching to appropriate proxy tiers. You'll see clear logs about proxy switches.

Q: Is the data real-time?
A: Yes, the data is scraped in real-time when you run the actor.

Q: Can I scrape both followers and following at the same time?
A: Yes, set followType to an empty string ("") to scrape both.

Support and Feedback

For issues, questions, or feedback, please contact the actor maintainer or submit an issue through the Apify platform.

Cautions

• Data is collected only from publicly available sources
• No data is taken from private accounts or password-protected content
• The end user is responsible for ensuring legal compliance (spam laws, privacy, data protection, etc.)
• Respect Facebook's Terms of Service and rate limits
• Use responsibly and ethically