{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-tag-js","path":"/tags/twitter/","result":{"data":{"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"LoginRadius Blog"}},"allMarkdownRemark":{"totalCount":2,"edges":[{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/engineering/beginners-guide-to-tweepy/"},"html":"

As we all know, Twitter is one of the most preferred microblogging websites when it comes to putting your thoughts on the internet. Big organizations use this platform for advertising their product; government institutions even use it to provide prompt customer resolution; various groups use Twitter to run social awareness campaigns and media campaigns. Twitter has close to 330 million monthly active users worldwide, out of which 17 million hits are generated from India itself along with more than 1 billion downloads on Play Store. With all this in mind, Twitter allows access to Twitter API to developers to create some cool applications like bots, automation tools, etc. This Twitter API gives developers access to almost all of Twitter's functionalities like likes, retweets, tweets, etc. Tweepy, a python package, helps us in achieving all this.

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Tweepy is a python package that smoothly and transparently accesses Twitter's endpoints made available for the developers. Without Tweepy, the user would have to take care of various low-level details about HTTP requests, rate limiting, authentication, serialization, etc. Tweepy handles all this mess on behalf of the user making the application prone to errors.\nIn simple words, Tweepy is an open-source python package that provides a way for developers to communicate with the Twitter API. But keep in mind that Twitter levies a rate limit on the number of requests made to the Twitter API. To be precise, 900 requests/15 minutes are allowed; Twitter feeds anything above that an error.

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Installation

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Tweepy can be installed by using Python package manager pip. A simple demonstration can be seen below:\n\"installation\"

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Installation on Linux and macOS should follow similar steps as well.

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Twitter API uses OAuth for authentication, so initially, you need to apply for authentication credentials from Twitter. These authentication credentials basically consists of 4 components namely : consumerkey, consumersecretkey, accesstoken, accesstokensecret . These credentials from Twitter are used to instantiate the API. Each account gets a unique key, so don't reuse someone else's keys.\nFor getting those credentials from Twitter, apply for a developer account on the Twitter Developers page.\n\"twitterdev\"\nThis is what the account looks like. Here you will get detailed information about the total no. of requests made, your API credentials, and much more information. After creating an account, you need to create an app wherein you will be asked to name your app and a short description. You must be wondering what an app is?\nThe app is like a gateway that contains a set of permissions and keys used to access the Twitter API. An app is needed for accessing the Twitter API as a part of Twitter's OAuth authentication. After creating an app, generate new authentication tokens for authorization purposes.

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\"keys\"

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Getting Started: Tweepy

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There are four common basic steps in any Tweepy application.

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  1. Importing tweepy package.
    2. \n
  2. Setting the authentication credentials.
    3. \n
  3. Instantiating the API.
    4. \n
  4. Creating API object.
    5. \n
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import tweepy\n# authenticating twitter api credentials\nconsumer_key = '2OsNoPKOYCpxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'\nconsumer_secret = 'Xw07uU51xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'\naccess_token = '24621057xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'\naccess_token_secret = 'pXt5xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'\n\n# instantiating the api\nauth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret)\nauth.set_access_token(access_token, access_token_secret)\n\n# creating API object\n\napi = tweepy.API(auth,wait_on_rate_limit=True,wait_on_rate_limit_notify=True)\n\nimport tabulate\nuser = api.get_user("Cristiano")\nprint("User Details:")\nprint(tabulate([["Name","Description","Location"],[user.name,user.description,user.location]],headers="firstrow"))
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Note: Use your credentials in the hidden keys above._

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Objects created from the Tweepy. API class helps us access most of Twitter's available functionality like tweets, retweets, likes, etc. In the code snippet, we used the api.get_user method for getting information about a certain user on Twitter. Likewise, there can be several use cases of different methods(discussed below) made available by Twitter to developers. You can find the link for this code here.

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Now we will see different methods provided by Twitter. The API methods have been divided into groups based on their functionality. The detailed guide for the API methods can be found at the official API Reference documentation.

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Timeline Methods

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These methods handles the tweets, retweets, statuses on your/someone else's timeline as long as the account is public.

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tweets = api.home_timeline()\nfor tweet in tweets:\n    print(f"{tweet.user.name} said {tweet.text}")
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api.home_timeline() is an API method that returns the 20 most recent tweets on the user's timeline.

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Status Methods

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These methods deal with creating, fetching tweets, retweeting tweets.

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api.update_status("Hello World!")
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api.update_status() is an API method used to create a tweet on the user's timeline. For each update request, it will check the user's recent tweets. If any duplication is found, the request will be blocked by Twitter as a user cannot post the same tweet more than once.

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User Methods

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These methods help to find the user details using various paramaeter like name, location, description,friends, followers,etc. as long as the account is public.

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user = api.get_user("ISRO")\nprint(user.name)\nprint(user.decscription)\nprint(user.followers)\nprint(user.location)
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We have used get_user() previously to fetch user details of specific accounts.

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Friendship Methods

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These methods help the user to follow, unfollow certain accounts, list the accounts user follows, etc.

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api.create_friendship("elonmusk")
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create_friendship() will add @elonmusk to the list of accounts you follow.

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Favorite Methods

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Likes or unlikes(if already liked) the status specified in the ID parameter as the authenticating user.

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api.create_favorite(tweet.id)
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create_favorite() will like a tweet based on the tweet id provided.

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Block Methods

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Used to block, unblock, list blocked accounts of the user.

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api.create_block(id/screen_name)
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createblock() will block the specific user using the id/screenname provided.

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Search Methods

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These methods help the user to search specific tweet based upon the search query and parameters provided. But not all tweets will be indexed or made available through the search methods.

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for tweets in api.search(q="iphone", lang="en"):\n    print(tweet.text)
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search() will look out for all the tweets available for the query keyword 'q' provided.

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Trends Methods

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It returns the trends going on at a specific geographical location.

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api.trends_place(1)
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trends_place() will show trends in the specific area. Here one stands for worldwide.

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Geo Methods

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It returns the geographical location like latitude, the longitude of the place id provided.

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api.geo_id(id)
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geo_id() returns more geographical information of the concerned place id.

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Conclusion

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Tweepy allows the user to concentrate on the application's logic by hiding many low-level details, thus making the application bug-free. You can use tweepy to do some cool projects like bots, automation, machine learning applications, etc.

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Ket Takeaways
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More information about tweepy can be found at docs. Make sure to look at the official documentation as it will provide you with a greater picture of the package. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, use your imagination, and get started with the side-project you've always been thinking of.

\n","frontmatter":{"date":"November 02, 2020","updated_date":null,"title":"Beginners Guide to Tweepy ","tags":["Twitter","Tweepy","Python"],"coverImage":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"aspectRatio":1.5037593984962405,"src":"/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/14b42/coverimage.jpg","srcSet":"/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/f836f/coverimage.jpg 200w,\n/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/2244e/coverimage.jpg 400w,\n/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/14b42/coverimage.jpg 800w,\n/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/47498/coverimage.jpg 1200w,\n/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/0e329/coverimage.jpg 1600w,\n/static/63d4d3ea1070111c43e0bdfa476b2a62/d8255/coverimage.jpg 1920w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}},"author":{"id":"Sameer Mahajan","github":"sameermahajan101","avatar":null}}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/engineering/build-a-twitter-bot-using-nodejs/"},"html":"

Build a Twitter Bot with NodeJs

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Hey there! In this blog post, we will build a twitter bot that let us tweet using the command line directly.

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Node and npm (or, yarn) must be installed on your system.

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Let's Start 🎉

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We will use twitter - a client library for the Twitter REST and Streaming APIs. This npm package will make the whole process of building the bot a whole lot easier and faster.

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1. Apply for a Twitter Developer Account

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To be able to access Twitter API, you need a Twitter Developer Account. Apply for it here. Click on Apply for a Developer Account.

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It will ask you to log in. Select appropriate settings after logging in. It will also generate keys and secret tokens like Consumer Key, Consumer Secret, Access Token Key, Access Token Secret. Copy and save them somewhere for future use.

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2. Setup Project

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Make a project folder with any name of your choice. Run npm init to initialize the project. This will generate a package.json file in your directory. Alternatively, you can run npm init -y to setup your project with default settings.

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package.json holds all the dependencies of a project.

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Since our project will be dependent on twitter client library, it's time we install this dependency in our project. Run npm install twitter to include this in your package.json .

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3. Setup Files

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Now we will start with the actual coding part. At the moment, your project folder will have a node_modules folder, a package.json file, and a package-lock.json file. If you have gone with the default options while running npm init, then index.js is the file we will be working upon.

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Open index.js. To be able to use the twitter library, which we have installed, you need to include it in index.js.

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var Twitter = require('twitter');

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Also, remember the keys and tokens you got from Twitter Developer Portal? It's time we use them.

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var client = new Twitter({\n\tconsumer_key: process.env.CONSUMER_KEY,\n\tconsumer_secret: process.env.CONSUMER_SECRET,\n\taccess_token_key: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN_KEY,\n\taccess_token_secret: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET\n});
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Do not add your Consumer or Access Token keys or secrets directly in the index.js. These should be managed accordingly using environment variables.

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We will use dotenv library to manage our environment variables in NodeJS. Run npm install dotenv and follow these instructions. Your .env will look something like this.

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CONSUMER_KEY=........................................\nCONSUMER_SECRET=.....................................\nACCESS_TOKEN_KEY=....................................\nACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=.................................
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4. Start Coding 🎯

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I will use Official Joke API to automatically fetch content for my tweet. You can visit the repository and learn more about the endpoints. But the only endpoint we will work with is random_joke. Click on this, and you will receive a JSON response with fields id, type, setup, and punchline. The fields we are concerned with are setup and punchline.

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We will use axios for calling the API endpoint. Run npm install axios and add var axios = require('axios'); in index.js.

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Now everything has been laid out. We need to connect the dots. The Official Joke API will return a JSON response. We will grab the required data, i.e., the setup and the punchline from it. And then make use of client.post functionality of twitter package.

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axios("https://official-joke-api.appspot.com/random_joke").then(Response => {\n\treturn [Response.data.setup, Response.data.punchline];\n}).then(([setup, punch]) => {\n\tclient.post('statuses/update', {status: `${setup}\\n${punch}`}, function(error, tweet, response){\n\t\tif(!error){\n\t\t\tconsole.log(tweet);\n\t\t}\n\t})\n});
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Now run node index.js on the terminal and see the output.\nIf everything went well, you would see a tweet response, otherwise an error message. The successful message would look something like this.

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At this point, your index.js should look like this.

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\n \n \n

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Congratulations! 🎊

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That's it! You have created your first Twitter Bot, which tweets content after directly calling it from an API. You might take a look at the repository if you encountered any errors. Here, I have used different APIs to fetch content and tweet. Moreover, I have added a script that will search posts with a particular hashtag and like them.

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While pushing your code to GitHub, make sure to add .gitignore file and include node_modules and .env in it.

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Further Reading

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The world is yours to explore.

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And the dev world is based entirely on exploring technologies and frameworks. Play with this twitter library and see what interesting stuff can be built with it. Maybe, search tweets with a particular hashtag and like them? Or maybe, retweet tweets of any particular user? You are free to use your imagination and coding skills to explore more and more. If axios and dotenv are new to you, then go ahead and read their documentation. Get hold of the concepts of environment variables. And come up with your own cool Twitter Bot.

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Keep in mind Twitter's Developer Policy & Terms and Twitter Terms & Conditions. These should not be violated in whatever project you are building.

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\n","frontmatter":{"date":"October 14, 2020","updated_date":null,"title":"Build A Twitter Bot Using NodeJS","tags":["NodeJs","Twitter","Bot"],"coverImage":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"aspectRatio":1.5037593984962405,"src":"/static/73b57d06f8809fab5ebb6ad89ab328ef/14b42/cover.jpg","srcSet":"/static/73b57d06f8809fab5ebb6ad89ab328ef/f836f/cover.jpg 200w,\n/static/73b57d06f8809fab5ebb6ad89ab328ef/2244e/cover.jpg 400w,\n/static/73b57d06f8809fab5ebb6ad89ab328ef/14b42/cover.jpg 800w,\n/static/73b57d06f8809fab5ebb6ad89ab328ef/47498/cover.jpg 1200w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}},"author":{"id":"Vineeta Jain","github":"Ninjavin","avatar":null}}}}]}},"pageContext":{"tag":"Twitter"}},"staticQueryHashes":["1171199041","1384082988","2100481360","23180105","528864852"]}