Scraping and extracting data on social media helps you to boost your marketing campaigns. There are many tools for social media scraping but which one to use is the main concern. In this article, we will give brief information on Social Media Scraping Tools 2022 with their features.
What is Social Media Scraping Tool?
This tool is a web scraper for social media channels. It extracts data from social media websites and compiles it in one format. This tool can be set based on different parameters such as scraping data of different users or posting images or following pages on social media.
Benefits:
It gives valuable information about customers. It collects the data and uses it to track what could influence the customer and prepare accordingly.
You can extract data from social media and use it to understand and be up-to-date with market demands and upcoming trends.
It is used to determine how to segment your audience. You can analyze to create campaigns for different audiences based on age, income, and more.
Social Media Scraping Tools
1. Octoparse
Octoparse is one of the best scraping tools. This tool is coding free, so you don’t need any programming experience or knowledge to use it effectively. It is known for its easy-to-use point-and-click interface, which supports infinite scrolling, text input for search results, log-in authentication, clicking through drop-down menus, and more.
Advantages:
It is a clean and user-friendly interface with a simple workflow panel
It is easy to use. You don't need any special knowledge.
It has capabilities for research work.
Disadvantages:
Some time is required to set up the tool and start the first tasks
Customer support is not provided
Problems are solved with a delay
2. APIfy
APIfy is used for a reliable automation scraper.
Advantages:
Use actors and cloud-based programs to scrape the last piece of data from social media websites.
Run the web scraping on automation in the web browser itself—no need to install any application.
Get a custom social media scraping solution for your individual needs.
Access the fantastic actor programs developed by the community for enhancing scraping capabilities.
Disadvantages:
Not ideal for beginners
Room for improvement in datasets API.
3. Brightdata
Brightdata is used for an all-in-one data collection platform with associated services.
Advantages:
It offers a dedicated set of tools for individual forms of social media scraping and data collection from other web platforms
You can use pre-designed datasets to ensure the best speed while collecting and analyzing data from multiple platforms.
The package includes a web unlocker utility that can manage browser fingerprints, cookies, auto-intelligent IP selection, and broad compatibility with devices and platforms.
You can combine it with social media scraped data for enhanced control.
Disadvantages:
The documentation/support resources can be a little confusing for ultimate beginners in the field
Sometimes, the lower-tier data collection packages are not powerful enough for extensive needs
4. Scrapestack
Scrapestack is used when you need web scraping and data management in bulk.
Advantages:
offers a number of free and paid options that suit different business sizes.
The platform has the capacity to handle millions of proxy IPs, browsers, and CAPTCHA patterns.
The platform has a presence in more than 100 global locations. It means you can be as specific as you want when setting up the dataset and collection parameters.
Disadvantages:
The company could offer a few more options for technical support.
Scrapestack is not as comprehensive as the other social media scraping tools mentioned above.
5. Agenty
Agenty is used when you want to scrape data and automate the process with advanced control.
Advantages:
You can use the single platform for an incredible variety of needs, including feed collection and data comparison.
Thanks to its Google Chrome extension, you can start scraping social media data with a single click. You do not have to worry about coding or shell-based access anymore.
Other features like batch URL crawling and scheduling. Even if the website has a log-in function, you can use the crawling feature.
You can use social media scraping with other platforms like Google Suite, Dropbox, S3, Webhook, etc. Again, easy integration is a few clicks away.
Disadvantages:
The tool offers limited customization options once you have imported the scraped data
The company could add a few more options to track conversions and manage leads through the platform
6. Diffbot
Diffbot is used for Business customers who want to handle social media as well as other forms of data retrieval.
Advantages:
Diffbot is used by an impressive set of organizations such as Intel, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Microsoft, and FINRA.
You can use Diffbot to collect and integrate data with an incredible set of services.
Fifferent services: Knowledge Graph Search, Knowledge Graph Enhance, Natural Language, Extract, and Crawl.
Last but not least, you can use this social media scraping tool as you grow the requirements. Because the tool is not rule-based, you can customize it to your needs.
Disadvantages:
While Diffbot does not require coding, you may need time to get started with everything.
In some instances, you may end up with a complex set of data. In these cases, you have to spend extra time filtering things out.
7. Import.io
Import.io is for Business and marketers who wants to scrape social media at large scale.
Advantages:
Extract data from pages hidden behind a login. Click and point to a location for training the tool for extraction.
Auto-train the extractor using the machine learning algorithm. Head straight from the URL to a dataset in a moment. Apply your custom JavaScript for control interaction with the pages.
Create your own custom extra rules using Xpath and Regex, which are query language and sequence of characters for search patterns.
io automatically redacts personally identifiable information (PII) from the web extraction according to GDPR compliance.
Disadvantages:
Expensive for single-user customers.
Tool instability for low-end computers.
8. OutWit
OutWit is for users who need a standalone piece of software for social media scraping. You can use this tool to download the content from the web.
Advantages:
OutWit Hub is a standalone software that can be home to your social media scraping and data collection needs on the web. You can also customize how the system looks and works.
Because of the design, you can use OutWit for an incredible variety of purposes. We are talking about brand identity audit, ads, e-Commerce, social media monitoring, etc.
You can get tailor-made scrapers from the company. The company will survey your needs and develop a new scraper that enables your basic and advanced needs.
Because of the custom nature, you can expect the User Interface to be as simple or complex as you like. In the end, OutWit is all about custom performance.
Disadvantages:
Sometimes, developing custom tools and scrapers for your needs may cost an indefinite amount. Therefore, it is not the most suitable option for beginners.
There is also a delay in the entire process with OutWit. First, you have to provide the requirements and get it done by the developer.
9. ScrapingRobot
ScrapingRobot is mainly for Digital Marketers who want to extract web data with details.
Advantages:
In-built parsing logic for returning the data. No need to use a separate parser for metadata.
Auto-train the extractor using the machine learning algorithm. Head straight from the URL to a dataset in a moment.
No need to maintain a large pool of proxies for scraping. Import.io does the job of using the onboard pool to ensure maximum conversions with minimal bans.
Custom templates, known as modules have a predefined configuration to ease the process of scraping.
Disadvantages:
Supports data export in a limited number of formats.
Lack of data integration with leading social media sites
Sofia Sondh
The Tech Platform