Facebook Posts, Reels & Comments Scraper

Facebook Posts, Reels & Comments Scraper

Facebook Posts, Reels & Comments Scraper extracts public engagement metrics, detailed reaction breakdowns (like, love, care, haha, wow, sad, angry), captions, author details, and paginated comment threads from Facebook posts, reels, and video links. Paste direct post URLs, reel links, video URLs, or share links (/share/p/, /share/r/, /share/v/) to collect structured records ready for export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML. Social media analysts, brand marketers, and researchers use this Actor to measure post performance, analyze emotional reaction polarity, and monitor community sentiment across public Facebook content without requiring cookies or account login.

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Key Capabilities

• Post & Reel Engagement Metrics: Collect exact total reaction counts (reactionCount), likes (likes), video/reel play counts (views), comment totals (commentsCount), and share counts (sharesCount).
• Granular Reaction Breakdowns: Extract per-type reaction counts (like, love, care, haha, wow, sad, angry) on both posts/reels and individual comments via the structured reactions array.
• Paginated Comment Threads: Scrape top-level comments on both standard posts and Facebook Reels, including comment ID, author display name, comment text, total reactions, per-reaction breakdown, and ISO 8601 creation timestamp.
• Universal URL Resolution: Automatically resolves mobile and desktop share links (/share/r/..., /share/p/..., /share/v/..., fb.watch/...), opaque pfbid post links, /reel/ links, /videos/ links, and story.php permalinks to their canonical URL and numeric post/reel ID.
• No Cookies or Login Required: Operates purely on publicly visible Facebook posts and reels without risking personal accounts or session cookies.

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Quick Start

1. Open Facebook Posts, Reels & Comments Scraper in the Apify Console.
2. In Post or Reel URLs (startUrls), paste one or more public Facebook post, reel, or video links.
3. Set Max comments per post/reel (maxComments, default: 20, or set to 0 to extract post metrics and reactions only).
4. Click Start to run the Actor.
5. Preview your results in the Storage > Dataset tab and export the dataset in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML format.

Input Example

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/reel/2141054613462232/",
    "https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18V6K8bL6F/"
  ],
  "maxComments": 20
}

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Input Parameters

Configure the scraper using the following input fields:

Parameter	Type	Default	Required	Description
startUrls	Array of strings	[]	Yes	List of public Facebook post, reel, video, or share URLs to scrape.
maxComments	Integer	20	No	Maximum number of comments to extract per post or reel (0 to 10000). Set to 0 to skip comment extraction and collect only post/reel metadata and reactions.

Supported URL Formats

The Actor accepts all standard desktop, mobile, and share-sheet Facebook URL formats:

Content Type	URL Pattern Examples
Reel Share Links	https://www.facebook.com/share/r/2141054613462232/
Post Share Links	https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18V6K8bL6F/
Video Share Links	https://www.facebook.com/share/v/CODE/
Direct Reel URLs	https://www.facebook.com/reel/2141054613462232/
Page Video URLs	https://www.facebook.com/username/videos/2141054613462232/
Direct Post URLs	https://www.facebook.com/username/posts/10161472895690758/
Opaque pfbid Post URLs	https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork/posts/pfbid02j21mpxEygikxxqKh3AaQxsct5vByRpuZVTgpBMELoKArJT6oJjvek8Y3TdRdDgvYl
Story / Permalink URLs	https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10161472895690758&id=100050429952420
Short Watch Links	https://fb.watch/CODE/

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What Data You Get

Each dataset item represents one scraped Facebook post, reel, or video, containing post-level metadata, engagement counters, a reactions breakdown array, and a comments array where each comment also includes its own reactionCount and reactions breakdown.

Example 1: Scraped Facebook Post with Multi-Reaction Breakdown

{
  "id": "10161472895690758",
  "postId": "10161472895690758",
  "url": "https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork/posts/10161472895690758",
  "originalUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18V6K8bL6F/",
  "type": "post",
  "status": "available",
  "platform": "FACEBOOK",
  "author": "humansofnewyork",
  "authorName": "Humans of New York",
  "caption": "Today in Manhattan...",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/...",
  "views": 0,
  "likes": 4520,
  "reactionCount": 4520,
  "reactions": [
    { "type": "like", "count": 2850 },
    { "type": "love", "count": 1420 },
    { "type": "care", "count": 210 },
    { "type": "haha", "count": 30 },
    { "type": "wow", "count": 8 },
    { "type": "sad", "count": 2 }
  ],
  "commentsCount": 184,
  "sharesCount": 312,
  "datePosted": "2026-04-10T15:30:00.000Z",
  "commentsScraped": 2,
  "comments": [
    {
      "id": "134859201948102",
      "author": "Sarah Jenkins",
      "text": "Such a touching story. Thank you for sharing!",
      "reactionCount": 59,
      "reactions": [
        { "type": "like", "count": 48 },
        { "type": "love", "count": 10 },
        { "type": "care", "count": 1 }
      ],
      "createdTime": "2026-04-10T16:02:12.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Example 2: Scraped Facebook Reel with Raw Engagement Counts

{
  "id": "2141054613462232",
  "postId": "2141054613462232",
  "url": "https://web.facebook.com/humansofnewyork/videos/henry-might-be-the-nicest-shopkeeper-in-nyc-you-can-visit-his-army-and-navy-bags/2141054613462232/",
  "originalUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/2141054613462232/",
  "type": "reel",
  "status": "available",
  "platform": "FACEBOOK",
  "author": "humansofnewyork",
  "authorName": "Humans of New York",
  "caption": "Henry might be the nicest shopkeeper in NYC. You can visit his Army and Navy Bags store at 177 E Houston.",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t15.5256-10/...",
  "views": 750971,
  "playCount": 750971,
  "videoViewCount": 364822,
  "likes": 19575,
  "reactionCount": 19575,
  "reactions": [
    { "type": "like", "count": 12831 },
    { "type": "love", "count": 6304 },
    { "type": "care", "count": 429 },
    { "type": "haha", "count": 8 },
    { "type": "wow", "count": 3 }
  ],
  "commentsCount": 839,
  "sharesCount": 707,
  "datePosted": "2026-09-19T20:18:16.000Z",
  "commentsScraped": 20,
  "comments": [
    {
      "id": "120956384129001",
      "author": "Kenji Takahashi",
      "text": "Henry is an absolute legend in the neighborhood!",
      "reactionCount": 283,
      "reactions": [
        { "type": "like", "count": 222 },
        { "type": "love", "count": 33 },
        { "type": "haha", "count": 24 },
        { "type": "care", "count": 2 },
        { "type": "wow", "count": 2 }
      ],
      "createdTime": "2026-09-19T21:02:18.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-16T12:00:05.000Z"
}

---

Output Schema Reference

1. Post & Reel Top-Level Fields

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Unique numeric Facebook post or reel identifier.
postId	String	Resolved numeric ID of the post or reel.
url	String	Resolved canonical permalink URL of the post or reel.
originalUrl	String	Exact input URL supplied in startUrls.
type	String	Content classification: post, reel, or video.
status	String	Availability status (available).
platform	String	Always FACEBOOK.
author	String / Null	Page handle or author username when present in the canonical URL.
authorName	String / Null	Display name of the page or creator.
caption	String	Full text body of the post or caption of the reel/video.
thumbnailUrl	String / Null	Direct URL to the post image or video/reel cover thumbnail.
views	Integer	Total play / view count (prioritizes exact unrounded play and view counts).
playCount	Integer / Null	Exact unrounded play count reported by Facebook for videos and reels.
videoViewCount	Integer / Null	Exact unrounded video view count reported by Facebook for videos and reels.
likes	Integer	Total reactions / likes count (alias of reactionCount for backward compatibility).
reactionCount	Integer	Total number of reactions across all reaction types on the post or reel.
reactions	Array of Objects	Breakdown of reactions by type ([{ "type": "like", "count": 1027 }, ...]).

| commentsCount | Integer | Total comment count reported by Facebook on the post or reel. | | sharesCount | Integer | Total share count reported by Facebook on the post or reel. | | datePosted | String / Null | ISO 8601 timestamp indicating when the post or reel was published. | | commentsScraped | Integer | Total number of comments extracted in the comments array for this run. | | comments | Array of Objects | Extracted comment objects up to maxComments. | | scrapedAt | String | ISO 8601 timestamp when the record was scraped. |

2. Reaction Object (reactions[])

Both top-level items and individual comments include a reactions array containing objects with the following structure:

Field	Type	Description
type	String	Normalized Facebook reaction name: like, love, care, haha, wow, sad, or angry.
count	Integer	Number of users who reacted with this specific reaction type.

3. Comment Object (comments[])

Each entry inside the comments array has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
id	String / Null	Unique Facebook comment ID.
author	String / Null	Display name of the comment author.
text	String	Plain-text body of the comment.
reactionCount	Integer	Total number of reactions on this comment.
reactions	Array of Objects	Per-type reaction breakdown on this comment (like, love, care, haha, wow, sad, angry).
createdTime	String / Null	ISO 8601 timestamp when the comment was posted.

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Practical Use Cases

• Emotional & Sentiment Polarity Analysis: Go beyond simple like counts by comparing positive reactions (love, care) against humor (haha), surprise (wow), or negative reactions (sad, angry) on announcements, product launches, and news posts.
• Viral Reel & Video Benchmarking: Track view-to-reaction and view-to-share conversion ratios across Facebook Reels and video campaigns.
• Community & Audience Intelligence: Export comment threads along with their reaction counts and breakdowns to identify the most endorsed customer feedback, questions, or objections.
• Creator & Influencer Due Diligence: Audit public posts and reels from prospective brand partners to verify authentic audience discussion and organic reaction distributions.
• Competitive Content Tracking: Monitor public posts and reels from industry peers to see which topics generate high share counts and active comment discussions.

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Programmatic Usage & Data Processing Examples

Node.js Example: Scraping Posts, Reels & Analyzing Reactions

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN',
});

const input = {
    startUrls: [
        'https://www.facebook.com/reel/2141054613462232/',
        'https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18V6K8bL6F/',
    ],
    maxComments: 25,
};

const run = await client.actor('karamelo/facebook-posts-reels-comments-scraper').call(input);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

for (const item of items) {
    const reactionSummary = (item.reactions || [])
        .map(r => `${r.type}: ${r.count}`)
        .join(', ');

    console.log(`[${item.type.toUpperCase()}] ${item.url}`);
    console.log(`  Author: ${item.authorName} | Views: ${item.views} | Total Reactions: ${item.reactionCount} (${reactionSummary})`);
    console.log(`  Shares: ${item.sharesCount} | Total Comments: ${item.commentsCount} | Scraped: ${item.commentsScraped}`);

    // Find top-reacted comment
    const topComment = [...(item.comments || [])].sort((a, b) => b.reactionCount - a.reactionCount)[0];
    if (topComment) {
        console.log(`  Top Comment (${topComment.reactionCount} reactions): "${topComment.text}" — ${topComment.author}`);
    }
}

Python Example: Exporting Reaction Breakdowns & Comments to Pandas

from apify_client import ApifyClient
import pandas as pd

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.facebook.com/reel/2141054613462232/",
        "https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18V6K8bL6F/",
    ],
    "maxComments": 50,
}

run = client.actor("karamelo/facebook-posts-reels-comments-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
items = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())

# Build a flat DataFrame of posts/reels with individual reaction columns
rows = []
for item in items:
    reaction_map = {r["type"]: r["count"] for r in item.get("reactions", [])}
    rows.append({
        "id": item.get("id"),
        "type": item.get("type"),
        "author": item.get("authorName"),
        "views": item.get("views"),
        "reactionCount": item.get("reactionCount"),
        "like": reaction_map.get("like", 0),
        "love": reaction_map.get("love", 0),
        "care": reaction_map.get("care", 0),
        "haha": reaction_map.get("haha", 0),
        "wow": reaction_map.get("wow", 0),
        "sad": reaction_map.get("sad", 0),
        "angry": reaction_map.get("angry", 0),
        "sharesCount": item.get("sharesCount"),
        "commentsCount": item.get("commentsCount"),
        "url": item.get("url"),
    })

df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
print(df.to_string(index=False))

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Limitations & Fair Use

• Public Content Only: The Actor extracts data exclusively from publicly accessible Facebook posts, reels, and videos. Content restricted to logged-in users, private profiles, secret/closed groups, or age/country-gated pages cannot be accessed.
• Reel Reaction Display: On Facebook Reels, Facebook's Reel player displays a unified reaction counter for the video itself (like), while individual comments on the reel expose full multi-type reaction breakdowns (like, love, haha, care, wow, sad, angry). Standard Facebook posts expose full multi-type reaction breakdowns on both the post and its comments.
• Comment Volume & Run Time: Posts or reels with thousands of comments require multiple pagination requests. Adjust maxComments to balance depth of extraction with run speed.

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Troubleshooting & FAQ

Observable Symptom	Possible Cause	Recommended Resolution
Target URL cannot be scraped	The post or reel was deleted, set to Friends-only, or restricted by age/country settings.	Open the URL in an incognito browser window to confirm it is publicly viewable without logging in.
comments array is empty ([])	The post has no public comments, comments are disabled, or maxComments is set to 0.	Verify that maxComments is greater than 0 and that comments are visible publicly on the target post.
views is 0 on a photo or text post	Facebook only reports video play counts (views) on video posts and reels.	Use reactionCount, commentsCount, and sharesCount to measure engagement on text and image posts.
Large batch run approaches timeout	Scraping many URLs with a high maxComments limit takes longer than the default run timeout.	Increase the Actor run timeout in Run Options or reduce maxComments per URL.