Exploring Instagram API using R!

Folks,

In this blog we will explore the basics of Instagram API using R.

“instaR” Package in R: Provides an interface to the Instagram API , which allows R users to access public users’ profile data.

Install “instaR” package from CRAN : install.packages(“instaR”)

Install “RCurl” package from CRAN : install.packages(“RCurl”)

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Step 1: Registering an Application with Instagram.

If you already have an account with Instagram, go to Instagram Developer and register.

Click “Register your application” button. After you register as a Instagram developer, you can go to  a Manage clients & register a new client.

Note down your App Name, Client ID & Client Secret

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Step 2: Create OAuth token to Instagram R session.

instaOAuth creates an OAuth access token that enables R to make authenticated calls to the Instagram API.

instaOAuth( client_id, client_secret, scope = “basic”)

Scope is related to the access permissions. Read Login Permissions (Scopes) Link

my_app_client_id  <- “”
my_app_client_secret <- “”

Now run the  instaOAuth command in R. See below format.

For setting the ‘redirect_uri’. Go to Manage Clients.

Copy and paste http://localhost:1410/ into ‘redirect_uri’ on Instagram App Settings.

After setting the redirect uri press enter on R command window. Automatic browser will open below page & ask for the Authorization.

After Authorizing the app. Below message will come.

See below message “Authentication Complete”. Now the connection is done with the Instagram API & R.

Extracting the Token from OAuth. Just type below command.

The token can be saved as a file in disk to be re-used in future sessions.

Now we have token = my_access_token. So here we goes with some of the basic end points of Instagram API.

Instagram End Points Links: Here

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1) Getting the information from Instagram for token owner.

End Points: https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/?access_token=ACCESS-TOKEN

Using R

Output:

Using Postman API Client

End Points: https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/?access_token=ACCESS-TOKEN

Output: JSON/XML

2) Get the most recent media published on Instagram by token owner.

https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/media/recent/?access_token=ACCESS-TOKEN

Using Postman API Client

Output:

Actual Image:

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Checking the details of any public image.

Hit this endpoint: https://api.instagram.com/oembed/?url=YOUR URL

See below gif for explanation. I’m using postman client for API testing.

You can get/post API request in your own way! Explore more End Points here: Link

PS: In Sandbox mode we cannot use extended permissions. Read Login Permissions (Scopes) here Link

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Thanks!

Happy Learning!

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