---
title: "social API"
url: "https://docs.unified.to/social/overview"
description: "API reference for social API. Launch multiple pre-built social integrations today with zero maintenance — all through a single API."
---
# social API

The Unified Social Media API enables developers and product managers to access social media data from multiple platforms through a single, standardized interface. Retrieve profiles, posts, reviews, and performance insights from social networks, business listings, and review sites — all with one API.

## [What is the Unified Social Media API?](#what-is-the-unified-social-media-api)

Social media platforms, business profile services, and review sites each have unique APIs with different authentication methods, data models, and endpoints. The Unified Social Media API normalizes these differences, allowing you to build once and support profiles, content publishing, review management, and social analytics across providers without maintaining separate integrations for each platform.

Social integrations typically represent pages, handles, or business listings as **profiles**, published content as **posts**, customer feedback as **reviews**, and audience and engagement data as **insights**.

## [Key Benefits for Developers](#key-benefits-for-developers)

* **Single Integration**: Write code once to support multiple social platforms — no need to learn different social media APIs
* **Normalized Data Models**: Work with consistent profile, post, review, and insight structures across all platforms
* **Real-Time Data Access**: Every request hits the source API live with no caching, ensuring you always have up-to-date social data
* **Zero Maintenance**: No need to track API version changes or deprecations across multiple social platforms
* **Faster Development**: Ship social media integration features in days instead of months of integration work

## [Benefits for Product Managers](#benefits-for-product-managers)

* **Multi-Platform Support**: Offer customers the ability to connect their preferred social accounts without custom development
* **Competitive Advantage**: Launch with support for major social platforms while competitors build integrations one at a time
* **Customer Flexibility**: Allow customers to manage profiles, posts, reviews, and analytics from a single interface
* **Reduced Time-to-Market**: Get social media features to market quickly without waiting for engineering to build multiple integrations
* **Scalable Product Strategy**: Easily add new social platforms as they emerge without significant engineering resources

## [Social Data Objects](#social-data-objects)

The Social Media API provides access to the following standardized objects:

* **Profiles**: Social pages, handles, and business listings with display name, username, bio, avatar, contact details, structured address, verification status, and audience metrics (followers, following, post count). Profiles can be nested using `parent_id` (for example, an account and its locations).
* **Posts**: Published and scheduled content including text, media attachments, publication status, post type (post, reply, repost, quote, story, and more), call-to-action buttons, permalinks, and engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares, views, bookmarks). Use `parent_post_id` to represent replies and threaded content.
* **Reviews**: Customer ratings and review text with reviewer name, avatar, location, star rating, optional title, and business replies. Reviews are linked to the profile being reviewed via `profile_id`.
* **Insights**: Performance and audience metrics over time — including followers, impressions, reach, engagement, profile views, clicks, video views, likes, comments, shares, and saves — aggregated by day, week, month, or lifetime and scoped to a profile or individual post.

## [Common Use Cases](#common-use-cases)

### [Multi-Platform Social Dashboards](#multi-platform-social-dashboards)

Build unified dashboards that display profiles, recent posts, review summaries, and engagement metrics across connected social accounts. Give marketing and operations teams a single view of social presence and performance.

### [Social Content Publishing & Scheduling](#social-content-publishing-scheduling)

Create tools that draft, schedule, and publish posts across social platforms. Manage post status, attach media, set call-to-action buttons, and track engagement metrics through a normalized post object.

### [Review Monitoring & Response](#review-monitoring-response)

Monitor customer reviews across business listing and review platforms. List reviews, track ratings, and publish business replies from a single interface — without building separate integrations for each review source.

### [Social Analytics & Reporting](#social-analytics-reporting)

Pull insight data into analytics dashboards and data warehouses. Track follower growth, reach, impressions, and engagement over time across profiles and posts using a consistent metrics schema.

### [AI-Powered Social Assistants](#ai-powered-social-assistants)

Build AI agents that analyze posts, reviews, and performance data to generate content recommendations, draft replies, identify sentiment trends, and surface engagement opportunities across multiple platforms.

### [Brand & Reputation Management](#brand-reputation-management)

Aggregate reviews and social activity to monitor brand reputation. Track rating trends, respond to feedback, and report on social performance across locations, pages, and accounts.

## [Why Use a Unified Social Media API?](#why-use-a-unified-social-media-api)

**Traditional Approach:**

* Build separate integrations for each social network, business profile service, and review platform
* Learn multiple authentication systems and API specifications
* Maintain code for different post formats, media handling, and metric definitions
* Monitor and update integrations when any platform deprecates or changes their API
* Handle platform-specific rate limits, pagination, and webhook implementations

**With Unified Social Media API:**

* Integrate once with a single API that works across social platforms
* Use one authentication flow for all platforms
* Work with normalized profile, post, review, and insight objects
* Automatic handling of API changes, rate limits, and platform-specific differences
* Built-in webhook support for real-time updates across connected platforms

## [Integration Scenarios](#integration-scenarios)

### [For SaaS Applications](#for-saas-applications)

Add "Connect Your Social Accounts" features that work with supported social platforms. Build social media management, review response, or analytics tools without building separate integrations for each provider.

### [For AI & Automation Tools](#for-ai-automation-tools)

Create AI-powered assistants that read post and review data, analyze engagement patterns, generate content, and provide recommendations across platforms using a single, consistent API interface.

### [For Analytics & BI Platforms](#for-analytics-bi-platforms)

Pull social insight data from connected platforms into your data warehouse or analytics tool. Create unified engagement reports, review dashboards, and audience growth analyses without building multiple data pipelines.

### [For Marketing Agencies](#for-marketing-agencies)

Build proprietary dashboards and reporting tools for tracking client social performance and review sentiment. Support connected platforms without custom development for each one.

## [Real-Time, Live Data](#real-time-live-data)

Unlike other integration platforms that cache data or run periodic sync jobs, the Unified Social Media API provides real-time access to social data. Every API request hits the source platform directly, ensuring you always have the most current profiles, posts, reviews, and metrics.

This real-time architecture is ideal for:

* Social dashboards displaying live engagement and review activity
* Publishing workflows that need current post status and scheduling data
* Monitoring tools that track reviews and social mentions as they happen
* AI applications that need fresh data for analysis and recommendations

## [Privacy & Security](#privacy-security)

Unified.to never stores your customers' social media data. All requests are stateless and pass through to the social platforms directly. Traffic is regionalized (US/EU/AU) to comply with data residency requirements.

## [Data Model](#data-model)

SOCIAL data model

SVG fallback viewer

[Open SVG](/images/models/UnifiedSocial.svg)

Loading diagram...

 Share [](http://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?mini=true&url=%2Fsocial%2Foverview&title=social%20API&summary= "Share to LinkedIn")[](http://www.twitter.com/share?url=%2Fsocial%2Foverview&text=social%20API&summary= "Share to Twitter")[](http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=%2Fsocial%2Foverview&title=social%20API&summary= "Share to Reddit")[](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?u=%2Fsocial%2Foverview&t=social%20API&summary= "Share to Hacker News")
