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Using Network APIs In Monarch
Using Network APIs In Monarch

Connecting to your social account allows Monarch to update your social follower counts automatically.

Updated over 11 months ago

What Are Networking API's?

Networking APIs allow Monarch to automatically grab follower counts from your social profiles and display them on your website.

This means you never have to update your follower count for the networks supporting it since the plugin continually checks the API and caches the count.

Only certain networks support API calls, and each of them needs to be configured a little differently. Please keep reading for a full list of supported networks and their installation instructions.

api settings

Before configuring your API settings, you must ensure that the Get Counts VIA API is enabled within the Networks tab of your Monarch settings panel.

Once enabled, you can begin setting up each account as outlined below.

Twitter

Twitter uses OAuth for its API, requiring additional authentication before allowing Monarch to access your profile information.

To begin the process, log in to your Twitter.com account and access the Developer Portal. We need to create a Project and an App in the Developer Portal.

  1. Click on the Create Project button.
    ​

  2. Give the Project a name.
    ​

  3. Click the Next button (bottom right corner).

  4. For the Select a use case choose Exploring the API and click the Next button.
    ​

  5. Add a Project Description.

  6. Set a name for the Twitter App - it can be anything you want.

  7. Click the Next button (bottom right corner).

  8. Copy the

    1. API Key

    2. API Key Secret

    3. Bearer Token

  9. Click on the App Settings button
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  10. Click on Set Up for the User authentication settings.
    ​

  11. Select Read and Write for the App Permissions.
    ​

  12. Select Web App, Automated App or Bot for Type of App.
    ​

  13. Under App Info, fill in the following settings:

    1. Callback URI / Redirect URL (required): https://your-domain.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=et_monarch_options#tab_et_social_tab_content_follow_networks and https://your-domain.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=et_monarch_options
      ​

    2. Website URL (required): is the URL of your website

    3. The rest of the optional settings - those are not required

  14. Click the Save button.

  15. Copy the Client ID and the Client Secret
    ​

  16. Click the Done button.

  17. Go to your WordPress Dashboard → Tools → Monarch Settings → Networks.

  18. Add Twitter Network.

  19. Enable the Get Counts via the API option.

  20. For the Consumer Key, paste in the Client ID.

  21. For the Consumer Secret, paste in the Client Secret.

  22. For the Access token, paste in the API key (copied in step 9).

  23. For the Access Token Secret, paste in the API Secret (copied in step 9)

  24. Click Authorize.

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Youtube

YouTube uses authorization keys for its API, which requires some additional authentication steps before it allows Monarch to access your subscriber count.

First, input the Full URL of your YouTube channel and the channel's ID into the URL and Name fields.

The channel ID can be found at the end of your channel URL. For example: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXe_bBnawh7Xu1qv2847xdQ where the UCXe_bBnawh7Xu1qv2847xdQ is the channel ID.

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Obtain An API Key

  1. Log in to your YouTube account.

  2. Access the Google Developers Console, where you will create a new Project or Select an existing project.
    ​

  3. Click on the + Enable APIS and Services button.
    ​

  4. In the list of APIs, search for YouTube Data API v3 and click on YouTube Data API v3.
    ​

  5. Click on the Enable button.
    ​

  6. From the Left sidebar, click on the Credentials link.
    ​

  7. Click on the Show Key link (on the right).
    ​

  8. Copy the API Key

  9. Copy and paste the API Key into the YouTube authentication fields within the Social Follow tab of the Monarch control panel.

  10. Click the Authorize button.

Monarch will automatically grab your YouTube share and follower counts.

Pinterest

Pinterest makes it easy to access the API for your account.

  1. Input the URL to your Pinterest profile page into the Pinterest URL field in the Networks tab of your Monarch settings panel.

Monarch will now grab your follower counts automatically.

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Facebook

Facebook uses OAuth for its API, which requires additional authentication steps before allowing Monarch to access, share and follow information.

  1. Open Monarch’s control panel

  2. Go to the Social Follow Networks tab.

  3. Enable Facebook by clicking Add Networks.

  4. In the second field (from the left), input your Facebook Page’s complete URL.

  5. In the third field, input only your Facebook Page’s name.

For more information on setting up a name for your Facebook Page, see this article in Facebook’s Help Center.

Note: Page URLs will typically have the following format: http://facebook.com/your-page-name

Obtain an App ID & Secret for Monarch,

For the complete guide on how to obtain all the credentials required for Authorizing Facebook, please check this complete guide.

Note: As of March 2018, all new apps created have the Enforce HTTPS option enabled by default and cannot be turned off. More information about this can be found here.

Instagram

For the complete guide on how to obtain all the credentials required for Authorizing Instagram, please check this complete guide.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn uses OAuth for its API, which requires some additional authentication steps before it allows Monarch to access your company profile information.

  1. Access the secure developer tools. After you click the URL, you will be asked to log in to access the API tools.

  2. Click the Add New Application button to get started. You will be taken to a new page where you will need to fill in the following fields as shown here:

    1. Applicate Name - This can be whatever you like.

    2. Description - This can be whatever you like.

    3. Website URL - Input the full URL to your website (for example, http://www.yourwebsite.com).

    4. Live Status - Set to "Live."

    5. Default Scope - r_basicprofile (only have this selected)

    6. OAuth 2.0 Redirect URL - This setting requires a particular URL to identify your app.
      ​
      Go to WordPress Dashboard → Tools → Monarch Settings → Social Follow → Networks, and then copy and paste the URL from your address bar.

      1. Delete everything after the # character within the URL: http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=et_monarch_options#tab_et_social_tab_content_follow_networks Will become this http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=et_monarch_options

    7. OAuth 1.0 Accept Redirect URL - Input the URL used in the field above.

  3. Click the Add Application button to complete the process. This will bring you to a success page with some information you will need to input into the LinkedIn API fields within the Networks tab of the Monarch settings page in your WordPress Dashboard.

  4. Copy and paste the API Key and the Secret Key into the required fields

  5. Click the Authorize button to complete the process.

Monarch will now be able to grab your company's follower counts automatically from LinkedIn.

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Dribbble

Before Dribbble will give Monarch your follower count, you must register an application and receive an access token.

  1. Log in to Dribbble.com

  2. Access the Register Application page. Here, you will need to fill in the following fields:

    1. Name - This can be anything you like.

    2. Description - This can be anything you like.

    3. Website URL - Input the full URL to your website (for example, http://www.yourwebsite.com).

    4. Callback URL - Input the full URL to your website (for example, http://www.yourwebsite.com).

  3. Click the Register Application button. You will be taken to a new page with three pieces of information.

  4. Copy and paste the Acess Token into the Dribbble Access Token field within the Networks Tab of your Monarch settings page.

Monarch will now grab your follower counts automatically.

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Vimeo

Vimeo uses OAuth for its API, requiring additional authentication steps before allowing Monarch to access your profile information.

  1. Log in to your account and then access the Vimeo API Tools to get started.

  2. Click the Create A New App button, and then fill in the required fields as outlined below:

    1. App Name - This can be anything you want. It's just something to remember it by.

    2. App Description - This can be anything you want as well.

    3. App URL - Input the full URL to your website (for example, http://www.yourwebsite.com)

    4. Callback URI - This setting requires a specific URL to identify your app. The URL that must be pasted here is the URL that leads directly to the Social Follow Networks tab in the Monarch settings inside your WordPress Dashboard.
      ​
      Go to your WordPress Dashboard → Tools → Monarch Settings → Social Follow → Networks, and then copy and paste the URL from your address bar. It will look something like this: http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=et_monarch_options#tab_et_social_tab_content_follow_networks

  3. Click the Create App button to return to the developer tools home page.

  4. Click the Authentication tab to give you information about your new app. You must copy and paste the Client Identifier and the Client Secret into the Vimeo authentication fields within the Network tab of the Monarch settings panel.

  5. Click the Authorize button.

Monarch will automatically grab your Vimeo follower counts.

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Soundcloud

Soundcloud requires two pieces of information to grab your follower counts via their API:

  • Name

  • Client ID.

To access these details, you must first register an app within your Soundcloud account, log into your Soundcloud.com account, and then access the Soundcloud Apps Page to get started.

  1. Click the Register A New Application button to begin the app creation process.

  2. Next, you will be asked to fill in the following information:

    1. Name - This can be anything you like

    2. Website of your app - Input the full URL to your website, such as http://www.yourwebsite.com

    3. Redirect URL - This setting requires a specific URL to identify your app. The URL that must be pasted here is the URL that leads directly to the Social Follow Networks tab in the Monarch settings. Inside your WordPress Dashboard. To get this URL, log in to your
      ​
      Go to WordPress Dashboard → Tools → Monarch Settings → Social Follow → Networks, and then copy and paste the URL from your address bar. It will look something like this: http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=et_monarch_options#tab_et_social_tab_content_follow_networks

  3. Click the Save App button.

  4. Copy and paste the Client ID (listed on the app page you are currently on) and your SoundCloud Username into the SoundCloud API settings within the Networks tab of your Monarch settings panel.

Monarch will now grab your follower counts automatically.

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Github

GitHub makes it easy to grab your follower counts. All you need to do is input your Github username into the Github Name field within the Networks tab of your Monarch settings panel.

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VK

Before you can configure VK, you first need to find your User ID, which is different from the VK username you use when logging in.

  1. Log in to VK

  2. Go to the Account Settings page.

  3. Scroll down and look for the Your Profile ID section

  4. Copy and Paste your Profile ID into the User ID field within the VK API settings inside the Network tab of your Monarch settings panel.

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