# Social Media Finder — Username Search & Profile Lookup (`bovi/social-media-finder`) Actor

Given a person's name, username, email, or phone — find their social-media profiles across 15+ platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, GitHub, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and more. Output: platform, profile URL, display name, match confidence.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bovi/social-media-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Vitalii Bondarev](https://apify.com/bovi) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Social media
- **Stats:** 5 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.90 / 1,000 social profiles

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

### Social Links Search — Find Social Media Profiles by Name, Username, Email or Phone

Cross-platform social profile discovery. Enter a person's name, username, email, or phone number and get back confirmed profile links across 15+ major platforms — LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, GitHub, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Telegram, Medium, Substack, Quora, Twitch, Snapchat.

#### Use cases

- **OSINT / identity verification** — confirm a person's online presence from a single identity signal
- **Recruiting** — from a candidate's name find their GitHub, LinkedIn, and social profiles in one run
- **Fraud detection** — cross-check an email or username across platforms to detect fake/synthetic identities
- **Sales enrichment** — given a prospect's name, discover their LinkedIn and social touch-points
- **Brand / reputation monitoring** — find all accounts associated with a real person or handle

#### How it works

Two-layer approach, no external API key required:

1. **Direct URL probe** — for username-shaped queries, builds canonical profile URLs per platform (`twitter.com/<handle>`, `github.com/<handle>`, etc.) and probes them via HTTPS. A valid 200 response on a real profile pattern = confirmed hit (high confidence).
2. **DuckDuckGo SERP fallback** — for name / email / phone queries (and uncovered platforms), runs a site-scoped DuckDuckGo search (`"Elon Musk" site:linkedin.com OR site:twitter.com`) and validates URLs from the results. No API key, works anonymously.

#### Sample output

```json
[
  {
    "platform": "Twitter / X",
    "platform_id": "twitter",
    "profile_url": "https://x.com/elonmusk",
    "display_name": "Elon Musk",
    "username": "elonmusk",
    "match_confidence": "high",
    "source": "direct_probe",
    "parse_confidence": "probe_200",
    "query": "elonmusk"
  },
  {
    "platform": "GitHub",
    "platform_id": "github",
    "profile_url": "https://github.com/elonmusk",
    "display_name": "Elon Musk",
    "username": "elonmusk",
    "match_confidence": "high",
    "source": "direct_probe",
    "parse_confidence": "probe_200",
    "query": "elonmusk"
  }
]
````

#### Input fields

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | — | Name, username (with or without @), email, or phone to search |
| `platforms` | list | all (15+) | Restrict to specific platforms. Options: `twitter`, `linkedin`, `instagram`, `tiktok`, `github`, `reddit`, `youtube`, `facebook`, `pinterest`, `telegram`, `medium`, `substack`, `quora`, `twitch`, `snapchat` |
| `maxResults` | integer | 10 | Max profiles to return (1–50) |
| `proxyConfiguration` | proxy | RESIDENTIAL | Apify proxy settings. RESIDENTIAL recommended |
| `useSerpFallback` | boolean | true | Also run DuckDuckGo SERP for higher recall |

#### Supported platforms

LinkedIn · Twitter/X · Instagram · TikTok · GitHub · Reddit · YouTube · Facebook · Pinterest · Telegram · Medium · Substack · Quora · Twitch · Snapchat

### 💰 Pricing & how we compare

**Pay-per-result (PPE): $1.90 / 1K results.** You are billed per `profile-found` actually returned — plus the tiny
`apify-actor-start` fee Apify waives for short runs. No subscription, no API key, no proxy fee on top.

**Our edge:** Name OR username OR email OR phone → confirmed profiles · direct 200-probe + DuckDuckGo SERP fallback · `match_confidence` · no API key.

**Pricing examples** (pay only for what you get, minus Apify's 20%):

| Volume | Cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $0.19 |
| 1,000 results | $1.90 |
| 10,000 results | $19.00 |

#### How rivals price the same job (live Apify Store, checked 2026-06-09)

| Actor | Their price | What they lack vs us |
|---|---|---|
| `tri_angle/social-media-finder` | $0.002 / result | strong incumbent (6.7K users, 4.79★) — by-name across 13 platforms |
| `automation-lab/username-checker` | $0.005 / username | username-only, 460+ platforms |
| `onescales/social-media-profile-finder-pro` | FREE | Sherlock-based, username-only |

*Prices above are competitors' live Store prices at the time of writing; ours is set to sit just
below the strongest comparable while returning richer, quality-scored data.*

### 🤖 Use with AI agents (MCP)

This actor is agent-ready (category **MCP\_SERVERS**). Point any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor,
n8n AI, LangGraph) at it:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=bovi/social-links-search",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}
```

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Name, username, email address, or phone number of the person to find. Examples: 'Elon Musk', 'elonmusk', 'john@example.com', '+1-555-123-4567'. For best results with a name, add a context hint like 'Elon Musk CEO SpaceX'.

## `platforms` (type: `array`):

Platforms to probe. Leave empty to search all 15+ supported platforms. Options: twitter, linkedin, instagram, tiktok, github, reddit, youtube, facebook, pinterest, telegram, medium, substack, quora, twitch, snapchat.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of confirmed profile URLs to return. Actor stops after this many found profiles.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy is strongly recommended — many social platforms block datacenter IPs.

## `useSerpFallback` (type: `boolean`):

After direct URL-probe, also run a DuckDuckGo search to find additional profiles the probe might miss (slower but higher recall).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "Elon Musk CEO Tesla",
  "platforms": [],
  "maxResults": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  },
  "useSerpFallback": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "query": "Elon Musk CEO Tesla",
    "platforms": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bovi/social-media-finder").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "query": "Elon Musk CEO Tesla",
    "platforms": [],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bovi/social-media-finder").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "Elon Musk CEO Tesla",
  "platforms": [],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call bovi/social-media-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=bovi/social-media-finder",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Social Media Finder — Username Search & Profile Lookup",
        "description": "Given a person's name, username, email, or phone — find their social-media profiles across 15+ platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, GitHub, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and more. Output: platform, profile URL, display name, match confidence.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "FaDldiODtA7ZJV52C"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/bovi~social-media-finder/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-bovi-social-media-finder",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/bovi~social-media-finder/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-bovi-social-media-finder",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/bovi~social-media-finder/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-bovi-social-media-finder",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "query"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "query": {
                        "title": "Search query",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Name, username, email address, or phone number of the person to find. Examples: 'Elon Musk', 'elonmusk', 'john@example.com', '+1-555-123-4567'. For best results with a name, add a context hint like 'Elon Musk CEO SpaceX'."
                    },
                    "platforms": {
                        "title": "Platforms to search",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Platforms to probe. Leave empty to search all 15+ supported platforms. Options: twitter, linkedin, instagram, tiktok, github, reddit, youtube, facebook, pinterest, telegram, medium, substack, quora, twitch, snapchat.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxResults": {
                        "title": "Max results",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 50,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of confirmed profile URLs to return. Actor stops after this many found profiles.",
                        "default": 10
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Apify RESIDENTIAL proxy is strongly recommended — many social platforms block datacenter IPs."
                    },
                    "useSerpFallback": {
                        "title": "Use DuckDuckGo SERP fallback",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "After direct URL-probe, also run a DuckDuckGo search to find additional profiles the probe might miss (slower but higher recall).",
                        "default": true
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```