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  Article updated: June 20, 2024

Why social accounts disconnect

Hootsuite uses access tokens to connect to your social accounts. Social networks provide these tokens. When an access token expires or becomes invalid, you must reconnect your social account to Hootsuite (see Reconnect a social account). Doing this generates a new token.

Each social network has policies and security algorithms meant to keep its users’ accounts and data secure. When a social network identifies certain actions on an account, it forces the account's token to expire, which causes the account to disconnect from Hootsuite.

Hootsuite, like all external partners of social networks, is subject to these security measures. They are often more stringent for third parties than what you may experience using the social network itself. While disconnections can be frustrating, they occur to protect you.

While some periodic disconnections are expected, you can avoid many others by adhering to some best practices. Safeguard against social account disconnections.

Token expiration

Tokens expire due to the following:

  1. Manual updates to your account settings, like changing a password.
  2. The social networks forcing tokens to expire as a security measure.
  3. Tokens reaching the end of their built-in lifespans.

A. Changes to account settings that result in disconnection
Hootsuite depends on settings you maintain in each social network. Making changes in a social network, such as Twitter or Instagram, can result in your account disconnecting from Hootsuite. Here are some changes that cause disconnections:

  • You change your username or password for a social account connected to Hootsuite. For example, if you sign in to Facebook and change your password, your Facebook account disconnects from Hootsuite.
  • You revoke Hootsuite’s access to your social account. Social accounts have settings that list which apps have permission to connect to your social account. Hootsuite must remain on that list if you want to publish to that social account from Hootsuite. If you manually revoke Hootsuite access from the social account settings, your account disconnects from Hootsuite. See Revoke Hootsuite access to a social account.
  • If the user who added a social account to Hootsuite loses their Admin status or access to a account, the account disconnects from Hootsuite.

B. Security measures that result in disconnection
To keep your social account secure, a social network might disconnect the account from Hootsuite when it identifies certain behaviors. The following behaviors are likely to get flagged and should be avoided as a best practice:

  • Using alias usernames that don’t appear to be real names.
  • Logging in with the same account credentials from different IP addresses. In other words, sharing logins between users or devices.
  • Publishing content that gets flagged for copyright violations or other inappropriate content.

C. Token lifespans for each social network
Tokens from each social network can have built-in expiration dates, so that they don’t grant access to information forever. Disconnection can be expected based on each social network’s authentication policy.

Top disconnection reasons

Hootsuite displays the specific reason for your disconnections whenever possible. The following sections describe the most common errors we receive from each social network, along with recommendations to prevent them:

Facebook and Instagram Business

The following sections describe the top reasons for Facebook and Instagram Business disconnection.

LinkedIn

The following sections describe the top disconnection reasons for LinkedIn.

Twitter

The following sections describe the top disconnection reasons for Twitter.

TikTok

Hootsuite doesn’t get many disconnection errors from TikTok. If your account does get disconnected from Hootsuite, start by reconnecting the account. If you can’t reconnect, go to TikTok and sign in for information on why your account is having issues. Most commonly, TikTok suspends accounts that violate its community guidelines or that may have been hacked. See TikTok’s help article Content violations and bans to learn more.

 

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