Track Facebook and Instagram mentions in Insights

You can monitor conversations from specific Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts in Insights. Track posts, comments, and hashtags to analyze mentions around specific topics, and discover how people are talking about them. To comply with Facebook’s privacy policies, you need to allow Insights to collect data on your behalf.

The following table lists the data that Insights can collect from Facebook and Instagram.

Insights needs an authentication token for each Facebook Page, Instagram account, or Instagram hashtag that you want to monitor. You create the authentication tokens, and then add the Pages, accounts, and hashtags that you want Insights to monitor as targeted data sources.

Create a Facebook authentication token

Facebook uses tokens to control who (and which applications) can access data on its platform. You create a token by authenticating with Facebook through Insights and choosing what Insights can access on your behalf.

There are two types of authentication tokens, depending on the type of access you allow.

• Page token - allows Insights to collect data from owned Facebook Pages and Instagram business accounts.
• User token - allows Insights to collect data from non-owned Facebook Pages.

The more Facebook users who authenticate, the more tokens you create for Insights to use, and the more data Insights can collect.

You can view all your authentication tokens in the Facebook Tokens table.

1. In Insights, select , and then select Manage tokens and targeted data.
2. On the Authentication Tokens tab, select Connect with Facebook and then select Continue as (profile name).
3. Optional: Select the Instagram Business accounts you want to connect to Insights, and then select Next.
4. Select the Facebook Pages you want to connect to Insights, and then select Next.
5. Select the access permissions you want to allow for Insights, and then select Done.
6. Select OK.
7. In the confirmation window, select the pages you want Insights to have access to, and then select Allow.

Invite another user to authenticate with Facebook

If you don't have access to the Facebook account that owns the Page you want to monitor, you can invite the account admin or another person with access to the account to authenticate for you. They don't have to be an Insights member to authenticate the Facebook account.

• Select Copy to copy the link and then share it with the person who can authenticate the Facebook account.

Note: If any of your Facebook tokens has an Inactive status, select Connect with Facebook and repeat the previous steps.

Add your Facebook and Instagram data sources

Add the Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, and Instagram hashtags you want to monitor as targeted data sources. Insights starts collecting data as soon as you add the data sources, but can't retrieve any data for the period before that.

You can add any owned Facebook Page for which Insights has a valid Page token. You can add a non-owned Facebook Page as long as Insights has at least one valid user token.

You can add any Instagram Business account that is linked to an authenticated Facebook Page, and up to 30 hashtags for each authenticated Instagram account.

1. In Insights, select , and then select Manage tokens and targeted data.
2. Select the Targeted Data Sources tab, and then select Add.
3. Select the type of data source you want to add, and then select Next.
   • For an Owned Facebook Page, select one or more Facebook Pages from the list, and then select Add Pages.
   • For an Owned Instagram Business Account, select one or more Facebook Pages connected to those Instagram accounts from the list, and then select Add Pages.
   • For a Facebook Page (Non-Owned), enter the URL of the Facebook Page in the search bar, and then select Add Page.
   • For an Instagram Hashtag, select a Facebook Page from the list. Enter the hashtags you want to track in the search box. Check the box to acknowledge that you can’t remove the hashtag(s) for 7 days once you’ve added it, and then select Add Hashtags.

Delete a data source

Remove targeted data sources when they’re no longer relevant, or when you need to make room for new data sources. Deleting a targeted data source is permanent and cannot be undone.

1. In Insights, select , and then select Manage tokens and targeted data.
2. Select the Targeted Data Sources tab, and locate the data source you want to delete.
3. Select in the Actions column, and then select Delete.
4. Select Delete to confirm that you want to remove the data source.