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APA: Citing Social Media

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APA Social Media Posts

References:

When citing a post from social media, you will use a lot of the same information, no matter which site or app the post is on.

  • Author name and/or username/handle
    • Lastname, I. [@handle]
    • Name of Group [@handle]
  • Date of post formatted year, full month name, day.
  • Content or caption of the post, up to 20 words, capitalized sentence style and italicized.
    • Include [Post] or [Video] to identify the type of content.
    • Use a description of the post if there is no text [Description of audiovisual content].
  • Name of the website or app.
  • Link to post
Twitter/X

Name [Handle]. (date). Text of the post. XLink

CDC [@CDCgov]. (2020, June 11). Scientists do not know if having antibodies to the virus that causes #COVID19 can protect someone from getting infected again [Image attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/CDCgov/status/1271180413134876672

Name [Handle]. (date). [Description of audiovisual media on post]. XLink

Ng, C. [@pronounced_ing]. (2018, January 22). [Photo of a letter from Shirley Jackson]. X. https://x.com/pronounced_ing/status/955528799357231104.

TikTok

Name [Handle]. (Date). Caption of the post [Video]. TikTok. Link to post

Cook, P. [@chemteacherphil]. (2021, September 17). Fighting fire with fire#sciencetok #learnontiktok [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@chemteacherphil/video/7008953610872605957

Instagram

Philadelphia Museum of Art [@philamuseum]. (2019, December 3). “It’s always wonderful to walk in and see my work in a collection where it’s loved, and where people are [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5oDnnNhOt4/

Facebook

News From Science. (2019, June 21). Are you a fan of astronomy? Enjoy reading about what scientists have discovered in our solar system—and beyond? This [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNOW/photos/a.117532185107/10156268057260108/?type=3&theater

In-Text Citation:

Use the creator's last name if their account uses a first and last name, otherwise use the account name. 

(Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2019)

(Cook, 2021)

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