Facebook Hashtag Search Scraper

🚀 Facebook Hashtag Search Scraper is a powerful Apify Actor designed to extract public posts by hashtag from Facebook without using the official Facebook API. It leverages residential proxies to avoid IP blocks and delivers rich, structured data – perfect for hashtag analytics, trend monitoring, influencer discovery, and social media research.

🔥 Features

• No Official API Required – scrapes public Facebook hashtag content directly, serving as a true Facebook API alternative.
• Smart Proxy Integration – uses Apify residential proxies to avoid IP blocks and achieve Facebook rate limit bypass, ensuring reliable Facebook data extraction.
• Hashtag‑Centric Search – enter any hashtag (with or without #) and get sample posts that include it.
• Rich Post Metadata – extracts post ID, user details (name, ID, URL, avatar), post URL, text, top reactions (Like, Love, Care, Wow, Haha, Angry, Sad), comments count, shares count, video view count, timestamp, and attachments (video type, duration, ID).
• Structured Output – nested JSON objects make it easy to integrate with analytics pipelines.
• Apify Dataset Ready – each post is pushed as a separate dataset item for easy export (JSON, CSV, XML).
• Async Architecture – fast, non‑blocking async Python scraper built with asyncio.
• Lightweight & Extensible – sample data generation can be replaced with real scraping logic using tools like facebook-scraper, Playwright, or Selenium.

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⚙️ How It Works

1. Input – Provide a hashtag (e.g., "travel" or "#travel"). The Actor accepts hashtag, hashtags, or query keys.
2. Proxy – Actor initialises a residential proxy via Apify Proxy (recommended for Facebook anti-block).
3. Scrape – For the given hashtag, the Actor generates sample posts (or you can replace the logic with real scraping). The current implementation demonstrates the data structure and proxy integration.
4. Output – Each post's data is pushed to the Apify Dataset – a perfect Facebook hashtag data export solution.
5. Finish – Logs total scraped posts and exits.

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📥 Input

The Actor accepts a JSON input with the following fields:

Field	Type	Default	Description
hashtag	string	required	The hashtag to search for (e.g., "travel" or "#travel"). The Actor also accepts hashtags or query for backward compatibility.
proxyConfiguration	object	{"useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]}	Proxy settings – Facebook residential proxy recommended.

Example input:

{
  "hashtag": "travel",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

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📤 Output

Each dataset item corresponds to one Facebook post containing the hashtag:

Field	Type	Description
postId	string	Unique identifier of the post.
user	object	Nested object containing: name (display name), id (user ID), url (profile URL), avatar (profile picture URL).
url	string	Direct URL to the post.
text	string	The post's text content.
topReactions	object	Nested object with reaction counts: Like, Love, Care, Wow, Haha, Angry, Sad.
commentsCount	int	Number of comments on the post – Facebook comment count.
sharesCount	int	Number of shares – Facebook share count.
videoViewCount	int	Number of video views (if post contains a video).
time	string	Human‑readable timestamp (e.g., "2025-02-14 12:34:56").
timestamp	int	Unix timestamp of the post.
attachments	array	List of attachment objects. Currently includes type (e.g., "Video"), id, and duration.
hashtag	string	The original hashtag used for the search.

Example output item:

{
  "postId": "123456789012345678",
  "user": {
    "name": "Creator_456",
    "id": "987654321098765",
    "url": "https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1",
    "avatar": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/profile_pic.jpg"
  },
  "url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/123456789012345/",
  "text": "Amazing content for #travel! This is exactly what you were looking for.",
  "topReactions": {
    "Like": 45678,
    "Love": 12345,
    "Care": 789,
    "Wow": 234,
    "Haha": 56,
    "Angry": 3,
    "Sad": 1
  },
  "commentsCount": 2345,
  "sharesCount": 1234,
  "videoViewCount": 1234567,
  "time": "2025-02-14 12:34:56",
  "timestamp": 1739532896,
  "attachments": [
    {
      "type": "Video",
      "id": "987654321012345",
      "duration": 45.67
    }
  ],
  "hashtag": "travel"
}

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🧰 Technical Stack

• Core Scraper: facebook-scraper, Playwright, or Selenium – flexible integration for Facebook hashtag extraction.
• Proxy: Apify Proxy with RESIDENTIAL group – real peer IPs, high anonymity.
• Platform: Apify Actor – serverless, scalable, integrated with Dataset and Key‑Value Store.
• Deployment: One‑click run on Apify Console or via REST API.

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🎯 Use Cases

• Hashtag Analytics – track hashtag performance and engagement metrics on Facebook.
• Trend Monitoring – identify trending hashtags and viral content in real-time.
• Influencer Discovery – find influencers using specific hashtags in your niche.
• Competitor Research – analyse hashtags used by competitors and their engagement.
• Content Strategy – understand which hashtags drive engagement and reach on Facebook.
• Brand Monitoring – track brand hashtags and user-generated content (#UGC).
• Market Research – gather insights on consumer preferences through hashtag analysis.
• Social Listening – monitor conversations around specific topics and campaigns.
• Campaign Analysis – measure the success of hashtag campaigns and promotions.
• Academic Research – collect Facebook data for social media and marketing studies.
• Influencer Marketing – identify and track influencer content with specific hashtags.
• Crisis Management – monitor hashtags during brand emergencies or controversies.

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Open in Apify Console – visit the Actor page and click Try for free.
2. Paste or type a hashtag in the input field (e.g., "travel" or "#travel").
3. Enable residential proxies (recommended for reliable access).
4. Click Start and wait for results.
5. Export – download post metadata as JSON, CSV, HTML, or Excel.

You can also call this Actor programmatically via Apify SDK or REST API – ideal for automated pipelines and scheduled hashtag monitoring.

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💎 Why Use This Actor?

Feature	Benefit
✅ No Facebook API quotas	Extract unlimited hashtag posts without API rate limits.
✅ Residential proxies	Bypass Facebook anti-bot detection – high success rate.
✅ Rich metadata	Get detailed post stats, reactions, user info, and attachments.
✅ Structured output	Nested JSON objects ready for analytics and database ingestion.
✅ Clean schema	Ready for immediate analysis or integration with other tools.
✅ Apify ecosystem	Seamless integration with other Actors, triggers, and webhooks.
✅ No authentication	Works with public Facebook hashtag content – no login required.
✅ Extensible	Easily customise to add more fields or integrate advanced tools.

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⚠️ Important Notes

• Facebook Terms of Service – Use responsibly and at reasonable speed. This Actor is meant for personal, educational, or research use on public data only.
• Proxy Credits – Residential proxy usage consumes Apify platform credits. Free tier may have limited availability.
• Rate Limiting – Facebook aggressively rate limits scrapers. Use reasonable intervals between requests and consider distributed scraping.
• Public Data Only – Only scrape publicly available posts and hashtags. Respect user privacy and Facebook's policies.
• Dynamic Content – Facebook heavily relies on JavaScript rendering. For best results, consider integrating with Playwright or Puppeteer for JavaScript-rendered content.
• Hashtag Format – Enter hashtags with or without the # symbol – the Actor handles both formats.
• Library Updates – If Facebook changes its structure, the underlying scraping library may need updates. We monitor and maintain regularly.

📦 Changelog

v1.0.0 (February 2025)

• Initial release with residential proxy support.
• Hashtag-centric search functionality.
• Extracts comprehensive post metadata including reactions and user details.
• Rich nested JSON structure for easy integration.
• Sample data generation for demo purposes.
• Easily extensible for real scraping integration.
• Full Apify Actor integration.

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🧑‍💻 Support & Feedback

• Issues & Ideas: Open a ticket on the Apify Actor issue tracker.
• Contributions: Pull requests are welcome via the GitHub repository.
• Documentation: Visit Apify Docs for platform guides.
• Community: Join the Apify community forum for discussions and support.

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