Facebook profile API: resolve links, pull the overview

Every Facebook pipeline starts with the same two questions: which entity is this URL, and what does the world see of it. Facebook URLs are notoriously polymorphic — profiles, pages, groups, posts, profile.php?id= forms, people/ aliases — and guessing wrong wastes every downstream call. Two endpoints settle it.

Step 1: resolve the link

GET /fb/resolve?url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/800246542990860
GET /fb/api/v1/resolve-profile?profile_url=https://facebook.com/zuck

The link resolver classifies any facebook.com URL — profile, group, page or post — and returns its numeric id and type. The profile resolver is the focused variant for profile/page URLs, including the people/… alias forms that redirect everywhere else.

from getsocialapi_facebook import Client

fb = Client(api_key="gsa_live_...").facebook

entity = fb.resolve("https://www.facebook.com/groups/800246542990860")
print(entity)          # type + numeric id
uid = fb.resolve_profile("https://facebook.com/zuck")

The id is the key every other endpoint wants: members, posts, feed, followers, friends, contacts.

Step 2: pull the overview card

GET /fb/api/v1/overview?user_id=<id>

The overview is the cheap profile card: name, avatar, verification, friend/follower counters, privacy posture. Before spending requests on deep lists, the overview answers the gating questions:

Check	Why
privacy flags	hidden lists return empty — know before you walk
follower/friend counters	sizes the export budget
verification	entity confirmation for due-diligence flows

The pattern

target = fb.resolve(profile_url)          # any URL form in
card = fb.overview(user_id=target_id)     # what exists, what's public

if card says lists are public:
    followers = walk(fb.followers, target_id)
    friends   = walk(fb.friends, target_id)

Resolve → overview → deep lists. The first two calls cost two units and prevent entire wasted walks on private or misclassified targets.

Where the ids flow next

• Groups → members, group posts, unified feed
• Profiles/pages → followers, followings, friends, contacts

Handling the alias zoo

Facebook happily serves several URLs for one entity: facebook.com/zuck, fb.com/zuck, m.facebook.com/zuck, profile.php?id=4. Don't normalize URLs client-side — the resolver tracks canonicalization server-side, and its answer is the id your pipeline should trust.

Two calls, any URL in, stable id out — getsocialapi.com, 100 free calls to wire the pair into your stack.

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