Instagram is a social media platform where users share photos and short videos. The Instagram Public Data API lets you access public information. This covers posts tied to a hashtag or a mention. Use it to watch your brand, plan content, and do market research.
The Instagram Public Data API is not for accessing data from personal accounts.
To be able to extract the data, make sure your personal Instagram account is connected to a Facebook account.
Refer to our website for the list of metrics and attributes available in Dataddo.
Refer to Meta's official documentation to see all available endpoints from the Instagram Public Data API.
Authentication Methods
Instagram Public Data has more than one way to connect. Pick one when you create the authorizer in Dataddo:
- Instagram - sign in with Instagram Public Data and approve access (recommended).
- Meta Admin Center
Authorize Connection to Instagram
To authorize this service, use OAuth 2.0 to share specific data with Dataddo while keeping usernames, passwords, and other information private.
- On the Authorizers page, click on Authorize New Service and select your service.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to grant Dataddo the necessary permissions to access and retrieve your data.
- [Optional] Once your authorizer is created, click on it to change the label for easier identification.
Ensure that the account you're granting access to holds at least admin-level permissions. If necessary, assign a team member with the required permissions with the authorizer role to authenticate the service for you.
For more information, see our article on authorizers.
Data Coverage
Instagram Public Data gives you the datasets below. Each dataset maps to a table you can extract. The example fields are just a sample. Each dataset returns more columns.
| Dataset | Description | Example fields | Date range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Posts | Read public data from Instagram. Page identifier can be found in url of your favourite page, eg: https://www.instagram.com/dataddo_com -> dataddo_com. | Media Id, Caption, Comments Count, Engagement, Id, Like Count (+6 more) | No |
| Profile | Read public data from Instagram. Page identifier can be found in url of your favourite page, eg: https://www.instagram.com/dataddo_com -> dataddo_com. | Id, Biography, Followers Count, Follows Count, Instagram ID, Media Count (+4 more) | No |
How Data Extraction Works
None of this connector's datasets use a date range. Every run pulls all currently available data.
Metadata Columns
When you create a source, you can add these Dataddo metadata columns to the extracted data:
- dataddo_hash - a fingerprint built from each record's key fields. It works as a natural key, so it is ideal for upserts (updating existing rows in your destination instead of creating duplicates).
- dataddo_extraction_timestamp - the date and time the row was extracted. Use it to track how records change over time, for example to build slowly changing dimensions.
How to Create a Instagram Public Data Data Source
To create a source, you need the username of the public profile you want data from. The account name is in the page URL, e.g. dataddo_com from https://www.instagram.com/dataddo_com.
Creating a data source takes you through six steps, shown in the progress bar at the top of the wizard. Each step is explained below.
1. Pick the connector
On the Sources page, click Create Source, then select the connector from the catalog. Use the search bar or the category tabs if you do not see it right away. You can rename the source at any time using the pencil icon next to its name.
2. Select the dataset
A dataset defines the shape of your data: which fields you get and how they relate. Select the dataset you want; you can still fine-tune the exact fields later.
- Each dataset has a short description of what it contains. Use the search box to find a dataset, attribute, or metric by name.
- The panel on the right previews the selected dataset's fields. For each field you can see its data type, whether it holds sensitive data (personal fields such as name or email are flagged), and which other datasets it links to, so you can see how the datasets relate.
3. Choose the account
This step selects what Dataddo reads from.
- Authorizer: Select an account you have already authorized from the drop-down. If you have none yet, choose Add new account and follow the prompts. If no authorizer is selected, Dataddo asks you to authorize before you continue.
- What to extract from: Select the exact entity you want to pull data from. Depending on the service this may be labelled an account, property, profile, workspace, or similar, sometimes with a sub-level to choose as well.
- Multiple accounts: To pull the same data from every entity you can access, turn on Automatically collect data from all .... This is multi-account extraction. Leave it off to choose them by hand.
4. Refine the attributes and metrics
The dataset already sets the structure. Here you fine-tune it: tick or untick the specific attributes and metrics you want to keep, and use the search box to find a field quickly. Click Test on Sample Data at any point to preview the result before you continue.
5. Add metadata columns (optional)
Two optional columns help your destination handle the data.
- Dataddo Hash (Include Row Hash): a fingerprint built from the columns you pick. It works as a natural key, so your destination can deduplicate rows and run upserts instead of creating duplicates. Turn it on, then select the columns that uniquely identify a row.
- Dataddo Extraction Timestamp: the time each row was extracted. Use it to watermark the data, for example to build slowly changing dimensions or to track when a value last changed.
6. Set the schedule
Decide how often Dataddo runs the extraction.
- Frequency: how often the pipeline runs, for example daily. Click Show advanced settings to also set the exact hour and minute (UTC).
- Date range: the relative window each run extracts, for example "Yesterday". The window moves forward on every run.
- Historical data: a new source starts from the current window. To load older data, run a full data re-sync after the source is created.
- Allow Empty Data Extractions: when on, a run that returns no data records zero rows instead of failing. Turn it on if the source can legitimately have periods with no data.
Click Save. Your data source is ready.
Troubleshooting
Data Preview Unavailable
No data preview when you click on Test Data might be caused by an issue with your source configuration. The most common causes are:
- Date range: Try a smaller date range. You can load the rest of your data afterward via manual data load.
- Insufficient permissions: Please make sure your authorized account has at least admin-level permissions.
Metric and Ad Recall Data Don't Match
The Reach and Recall metrics cannot be summed to get the totals for longer time periods. As these metrics measure the daily unique users who view your ad (= reach) or will remember the ad (=ad recall), it is not possible to get data for a specific time period and/or aggregate the data.
To avoid this, you can
- Get daily breakdowns: The daily values will match, but not when summed up over a longer time period.
- Extract data weekly or monthly: These weekly/monthly values will match.
Simply create a new source and a new flow with the particular breakdown (for example, a source and a flow with daily breakdowns/synchronizations).
Read more about the metrics, and why the data may not be matching here.
Related Articles
Now that you have successfully created a data source, see how you can connect your data to a dashboarding app or a data storage.
Sending Data to Dashboarding Apps
Sending Data to Data Storages
Other Resources