Social Media Posts Extractor

Pull recent posts from known accounts (profile URL or username) on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), YouTube, Threads, Reddit, Facebook, or VK. Hashtags (#tag) still work for power users; for niche breadth across many platforms, prefer the Hashtag Posts Extractor.

Media URLs

post_thumbnail / avatar URLs often come from CDN or search-index caches and can expire. Do not treat them as durable asset storage.

Optional: set rehost_thumbnails to download images into this run's Apify key-value store and fill post_thumbnail_apify (cloud runs only; download failures keep the original CDN URL). Default off.

What you can extract

• Caption, content type, author name / username
• Platform, post ID, post link, thumbnail
• Timestamp, likes / comments / replies when present
• engagement_rate when author followers is known
• Original search_input

How to use

1. Create a free Apify account.
2. Open the Social Media Posts Extractor on Apify.
3. Add profile URLs or usernames (optional #hashtags), pick one platform, set max results. Optional since (YYYY-MM-DD) keeps newer posts only (best-effort).
4. Click Start, then download JSON / CSV / Excel or use the API.

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing.

Event	When it charges
data_request (primary)	Once per real dataset row pushed
platform_usage	Usage true-up based on Apify platform compute

Free users are capped and may see upgrade placeholders after a small reveal. Set the Console Monetization primary event to data_request.

Input parameters

Field	Type	Description	Required
search_inputs	array of string	Profile URLs or usernames (optional #hashtag)	Yes
platforms	array of string	One of INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, YOUTUBE, THREADS, REDDIT, FACEBOOK, VK	Yes
max_results	integer	Maximum number of posts to fetch (default 10)	Yes
location	string	Country filter (e.g. US)	No
exclusions	array of string	Keywords/usernames/hashtags to exclude	No
since	string	Keep posts on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD); best-effort	No
rehost_thumbnails	boolean	Cloud-only: store thumbnails in KV as post_thumbnail_apify (default false)	No

Legacy platform / max_posts inputs are still accepted and mapped automatically.

Sample input

{
    "search_inputs": [
        "https://www.instagram.com/google/",
        "apple"
    ],
    "platforms": ["INSTAGRAM"],
    "location": "US",
    "max_results": 10,
    "since": "2025-01-01",
    "rehost_thumbnails": false
}

Output

The actor returns a structured dataset with the following fields for each record.

Sample Output (JSON)

[
  {
    "caption": "This one’s for the vibe coders. Show us your creations below.",
    "contentType": "Tweet",
    "name": "Google",
    "platform": "twitter",
    "post_id": "191**************",
    "post_link": "https://x.com/Google/status/191**************",
    "timestamp": "2025-05-06",
    "user_link": "https://x.com/Google",
    "username": "Google",
    "replies": 32574278,
    "search_input": "Google"
  }
]

Use Cases

• Build targeted influencer lists for brand collaborations
• Track competitor campaigns and engagement across platforms
• Monitor hashtags to spot trending topics in real time
• Target posts by geography with location-based filtering for localized marketing insights
• Feed social proof and testimonials into landing pages automatically
• Enrich CRM records with the latest customer posts and bios
• Collect user-generated content for market research or sentiment analysis
• Automate weekly social media performance reports for clients
• Train AI/ML models with fresh, labeled social content

Usage Tips

• Combine multiple hashtags and profile URLs in one run to save credits.
• Set max_results to focus on fresh posts and speed up execution.
• Use specific hashtags or handles for higher-quality matches.

Integrations

Social Media Posts Extractor fits seamlessly into your data pipeline. Thanks to built-in integrations on the Apify platform, you can connect this actor with virtually any cloud service or web app.

Popular integrations

• Make (Integromat) - automate multi-step workflows.
• Zapier - send data to 5,000+ apps.
• Airbyte - sync datasets into your data warehouse.
• Slack - push instant notifications.
• Google Sheets & Drive - store results in spreadsheets or cloud.
• GitHub - commit datasets directly to your repositories.
• AWS S3 / Azure Blob Storage - archive large exports securely.

Webhooks

Set up webhooks to trigger actions when the actor completes or fails, e.g., send email or Slack alerts.

🛠️ API Access

Prefer to automate with code? The Apify REST API lets you manage, schedule, and run this actor programmatically.

• Run & Schedule Actors
• Access Datasets
• Monitor Runs
• Version Control

Client libraries

Language	Package	Install
Node.js	apify-client	npm install apify-client
Python	apify-client	pip install apify-client

---

For complete API examples and detailed usage, visit the API documentation.

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 = { "search_inputs": [
        "https://www.instagram.com/google/",
        "apple",
        "#marketing",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("caprolok/social-media-posts-extractor").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)

MCP Quickstart

You can use the Apify MCP Server in two ways:

        **1. Standard Input/Output (stdio):**

• Set MCP client server command to npx @apify/actors-mcp-server and environment variable APIFY_TOKEN to your Apify API token.

2. HTTPS Endpoint mcp.apify.com:

• Connect your MCP client by including Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN> header in your requests.

For more details, see the MCP API documentation.

💬 Support

If you encounter any issues, have suggestions, or need assistance, please use the Issues tab. Our team actively monitors this section and will respond promptly.

Related scrapers

Actor	Use for
Social Media Hashtag Posts Extractor	Niche keyword / hashtag posts across platforms
Social Media Profile Extractor	Enrich known usernames or profile URLs
Social Media Email Finder	Public emails by niche keyword
Social Media Phone Finder	Public phones by niche keyword
Social Media Influencer Finder	Creator shortlist by follower band + niche
TikTok Leads Generator	TikTok-focused lead discovery
LinkedIn Leads Generator	LinkedIn B2B lead discovery