> How can you bring live social media interactions to your broadcast? SPX Social is a powerful extension designed to moderate and display live social media messages from platforms like X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube. By integrating with **Flockler** as a content aggregator, SPX Social allows you to pull curated feeds into a dedicated moderation interface and fire them as professional graphics. Whether you need a simple lower third or a full-screen side panel, this extension streamlines the workflow of moving digital conversations from the web to your live production screen. --- > [!TIP] Get this item in the [SPX Store](https://spxgraphics.com/store/#product-SPX-Social-1.4). ## Social media messages for live productions ![[Pasted image 20260129105208.png]] ![[Pasted image 20260129105343.png]] **Supported sources** - Flockler feed (flockler.com) - X (Twitter) - Facebook - LinkedIN - TikTok - RSS Feeds - and more can be added with "modules" as needed Optional **autoplay** and **loop** modes with controllable delays for showing messages from the outbox automatically. Package comes with **three production ready templates** that can be customized or use as a starting point for developing new social graphics. Most configurations are done in a JSON configuration file. See documenation for details. **License for a year** SPX Social requires a paid license that is tied to the SPX HOST-ID of your installation.  A single purchase will enable the plugin for **ONE YEAR**. To run the plugin later, another paid license is required. Once you have purchased and installed the plugin, send us the HOST-ID of your computer and we will issue the license. Go to [SPX Store](https://spx.graphics/store) and get the extension. While the product is in **BETA stage** our documentation and other support material are limited and for this, we offer a free support session for installation and configuring the extension. After purchase you will be able to download **manual installers** (zip package for Mac and Linux), a **Windows installer** (exe), and a **support document** (pdf) that has instructions for booking a 45-minute support session for installing SPX Social and setting up social message aggregation using Flockler ([https://flockler.com/free-trial](https://flockler.com/free-trial)). > [!Warning] SPX Social requires SPX v.1.1.2 or newer. ## Get the license **SPX Social** extension runs in a restricted "DEMO MODE" once installed. We will supply a license string after purchase and this will be added to the configuration file of SPX Social and this will remove all licensing messages and other functionality restrictions. If you have purchased SPX Social but have not received the license for it yet, please [contact us](https://spx.graphics/contact) or use the *chat feature* on this page. Please have your SPX HOST-ID and SPX Store Order number ready. For instruction see [[SPX Social#SPX Social licensing|this]]. ## Install For Windows-based computers, the SPX Social extension comes as an installer that will install both the **SPX Social extension** and required **graphics templates** to the correct folders within SPX. For Mac and Linux machines, the files must be extracted from the given zip file to the correct locations. Zip file contains a [[Plugins & Extensions|plugins]] folder and the spxSocial -subfolder will need to be extracted to **SPX/ASSETS/plugins/spxSocial** \-subfolder. The graphic templates are in templates -subfolder and that will need to be extracted to **SPX/ASSETS/templates/softpix/spxSocial** -subfolder. The extension comes with three SPX graphics templates: - **Social Lower Third** - **Social Side Panel** - **Social Center Box** All templates can be configured with custom colors and fonts and these templates can work as a starting point for the development of completely customized graphics with your look&feel. Remember, if you need custom designs our [Creative Services](https://spxgc.com/contact) can help! ## Create a Flockler account and define sources **Flockler** ([https://flockler.com/free-trial](https://flockler.com/free-trial)) is an aggregation service for collecting content from various social media sources into a single feed that can then be integrated easily with SPX Social. Your Flockler account will have a numerical " **site-id** " and collected content can optionally be published into " **sections** ". Refer to Flockler's instructions and help, but follow these basic steps to create a working Flockler data source for SPX Social. - Create an account with Flockler - Create a few sections, for example, Post, youtube, #keyword, etc - Created automated feed for example Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok under wanted sections - Note: Facebook/Instagram requires that you have a Facebook business account ![[Pasted image 20260129105216.png]] When creating new "automated feeds" you should most often use Flockler's " **Display automatically** " option as opposed to " **Save for moderation** " option. This will "auto approve" all aggregated content and they will load to SPX Social's inbox for playout. If several layers of moderation are required, then Flockler's user interface can naturally be used as a "pre-moderation" tool. ### RSS and other data sources By default SPX Social comes with two data source modules: **Flockler** - for utilizing several social media platforms via Flockler integration (Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok etc) **RSS** - for utilizing any RSS feed as a data source for SPX Social. Some RSS feeds may be secured with CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) option which will prevent reading the content to SPX Social directly over a URL. To work around this issue, the SPX server has a built-in proxy that can read the content and serve that to SPX Social. To use the CORS secured RSS feed, pass the URL to the feed proxy API endpoint using the syntax as shown with this example: ``` /api/v1/feedproxy?url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/feed/&format=xml ``` ## Configuration JSON SPX Social does not have a graphical userinterface for changing setting, but a **social\_config.json** -file that controls how the application works, what data sources to read content from, and how the graphics should play out using the SPX server. The configuration file is divided into several main sections: **GENERAL** has global settings such as the default window size/position. *hideProjectsMenu* can be used in situations where it is not advisable for the social playout person to be able to change project (by mistake) during production. **SOURCETYPES** section introduces available reader modules. By default, this contains *flockler* and *rss -* types. More can be added later. **PROJECTS**  is an array of objects that define several "SPX Social Projects", each containing *source* and *render* settings among other things. The **source** is typically of type "flockler" which requires *site* and (optionally)  *section* parameters. The **render** is of type "spx" and parameters can be given to specify which template is used for playout. [[Live Streaming Software|CasparCG]] *playserver*, *playchannel* and *playlayer* can be defined. Web playout uses *webplayout* parameter. ![[Pasted image 20260129105223.png]] ## SPX Social licensing SPX Social extension can run in two modes: **DEMO MODE** When SPX Social is run without a valid license, it will run in "demo mode" with restricted features. For instance, you can only load up to 5 incoming messages and a pop-up message is shown periodically to notify you of the demo mode. See the image below. **LICENSED MODE**  When SPX Social is purchased and a license string is generated the extension will run in the "licensed mode" with all features enabled. A single SPX Social license covers usage of the app on **up to 10 different** host computers. ![[Pasted image 20260129105229.png]] ### Installing license We will need your SPX HOST-ID to be able to provide a license. You can see your SPX HOST-ID by going to [http://localhost:5656/api/v1](http://localhost:5656/api/v1), it's located at the top of the page, see the below picture. ![[Pasted image 20260129105233.png]] After purchasing and installing SPX Social extension, [contact us](https://spx.graphics/contact) directly and send in your **HOST-ID** and the **Store Order Number** for the SPX Social license to remove usage restrictions. The license is added to the software by editing **social\_config.json** -file and by adding the valid license string there. ![[Pasted image 20260129105237.png]] **Live demo** You can try the plugin at our [SPX Cloud Demo Server](https://spxcloud.app/demo?path=/gc/00-Getting-Started/3-Plugins). Locate the blue SPX SOCIAL button to get going. --- ## Read next - [[Installing Templates]] — how to install SPX templates and extensions - [[Plugins & Extensions]] — how SPX plugins and extensions work - [[Control api|Control API]] — API endpoints for controlling SPX