APA 7th Referencing Style Guide

Cite only original content from social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit etc. If you want to cite content from a social media post or account that is not the original source of the content, cite it directly. For example, if you find a Facebook post that links to a blog, cite the blog not the Facebook post. 

Notes:

• Social media posts may include text, images and audiovisual content
• Do not alter the spelling and capitalisation in a social media reference
• Retain hashtags, links and emojis (if possible)
• If you cannot create the emoji, provide the name of the emoji in square brackets e.g. [face with tears of joy emoji]. The full list of names can be found on the Unicode Consortium's website

Reference format

Tweet

• If the tweet includes images (including GIFs), videos, thumbnail links to outside sources, links to other tweets (i.e. a retweet with comment) or a poll, indicate that in square brackets
• For tweet replies, do not include the "replying to" information. If it is important to note, mention it in your writing and provide an in-text citation
• Replicate emojis if possible. If not, provide the CLDR short name from the Unicode Emoji List in square brackets

Twitter profile

• Provide a retrieval date because the contents of the page can change over time
• Twitter profiles have several tabs. "Tweets" is the default, so to create a reference to one of the other tabs, substitute that tab name for "Tweets" in the reference

Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

Facebook post



Facebook page

• Use the page title in the reference (e.g., "Home", "Timeline", "About", "Photos")
• This format can be adapted for references to other social media pages such as Tumblr, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.

Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

Instagram photo or video

Instagram highlight

• Even though stories within the highlight are dated, the highlight itself is not and contains multiple stories so use n.d. for the date 
• Include the retrieval date as the highlight may change over time

Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

LinkedIn post

• Use the name associated with the account as the name in the reference. 
• LinkedIn does not provide exact dates for posts; rather, it tells users how long ago the post was made. Use the date information provided on the post to infer as specific a date as possible for the reference.
   

LinkedIn profile

• Use the page title in the reference (e.g., “Home,” “About,” “Jobs”). 
• Include the notation “[LinkedIn page]” in square brackets after the title. 
• Provide a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and is not archived

Find Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

• If the real name and username are both known, provide the real name first followed by the username in square brackets, like the Instagram examples. Don't include "u/" at the start of the username

Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

Using the same format for citing newspaper or magazine articles. 

• Include (Year, Month Date).