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Social Grid Widget (Instagram)
Social Grid Widget (Instagram)

Display an auto-updating instagram feed with Showit's social grid widget

Jeff Willems avatar
Written by Jeff Willems
Updated this week

Update: Starting on December 4th, 2024, due to changes made by Instagram, in order to use the Instagram Social Grid Widget you must have either a Creator or Business Instagram account.

If you already have a Creator or Business Instagram account, you must disconnect and reconnect your Instagram account to ensure there are no service interruptions.

Using the Social Grid Widget is a great way to display your recent social media posts on your website. When connected to your Instagram account, this widget will automatically update to show a preview of the most recent posts and link out to your account so visitors to your site can find and follow you with a simple click.

This article will explain:

  • How to add and connect a social grid

  • What options are available for customizing your social grid

  • How to set fallback images

  • The limitations of the social grid and troubleshooting options

Note: Occasional reconnection may be required due to how Meta chooses to provide security tokens to third-party sources for a limited number of days. This is a layer of their security we can't change or control.

Video Instructions


Written Step-by-Step Instructions


Adding the Social Grid

To add the Social Grid widget to your design:

  1. First select the canvas you would like the widget added to.

  2. Then select Social Grid from our objects menu at the bottom bar of the app

Note: The Instagram feed may take up to 10 minutes to display new posts on your site.

Connect an Instagram Account

To connect an Instagram Account:

  1. Select the Social Grid widget in your design.

  2. On the right sidebar under Social Grid Settings, click on Connect Instagram.

3. Follow the prompts under your account settings to Connect Instagram.
You'll be prompted to login to Instagram and must provide permission for Showit to access your Instagram account in order to display your photos.

Note: You can connect additional Instagram accounts on this account screen.

To connect additional accounts, you must be logged into the account you wish to connect IN INSTAGRAM for the new account to be connected. If you've already connected account A and wish to connect account B - make sure you are actively logged in to account B in instagram (in your browser) before configuring for that account to properly connect.

4. Select your account from the Social Grid Settings tab in the Showit Design App (If you don't see your account, try refreshing the browser).

5. Customize the Social Grid settings to your liking.

Social Grid Settings

Video, Carousel, Image Posts

  • You can exclude specific types of Instagram posts from appearing in your social grid feed.

Show Captions on Hover

  • Shows the caption of the associated post on the live site when a user hovers their cursor over it.

Auto-space Images

  • Automatically adjusts the image gaps to fit the maximum number of whole images.

*Only available for 1 row of images.

Allow Overflow

  • Fills the widget by aligning images Left and will show partial images on the right. Idea for use with horizontal edge locking on desktop.

*Only available for 1 row of images.

Image Gap

  • Adjust gap between images

Rows

  • Adjusts the number of image rows visible.

*Over 1 row may limit other settings.

Align

  • Aligns images Left, Center or Right.

*Not available with Auto-space Images or Allow Overflow enabled.

Fallback Images

Our Social Grid supports the selection of Fallback Images. These images will be displayed if for any reason Instagram's servers don't respond or if your account is ever disconnected by Instagram.


You can select any images in your Media Library to be used as Fallback Images.

Preview for Website Templates: Fallback images are displayed in templates if no account is selected or when a template is shared.

Migrating Your Instagram to Business/Creator Account

Additional Functionality


Edge Locking Support

The Social Grid has Edge Locking support! Give it a try!

Copy Style Settings Between Desktop and Mobile

You can use Special Paste to quickly copy style settings between desktop and mobile.

Add or Disconnect an Instagram Account


If you wish to Add an additional account or Disconnect an Instagram account follow these steps:

  1. Login to your Account Third Party settings.

  2. Click Connect Instagram to add another account or Disconnect next to your connected account.

Limitations


Account Limitations

Starting December 4th, 2024 your Instagram account must be either a business or creator account to use the social grid widget. It will not work with a personal account.

Feed Refresh Rate

Every 10 minutes

Post Display Count Limit

Up to 50 posts will display. Excluding post types like Carousel or Video may give you a smaller set of posts.

Unsupported content types:

IGTV, Stories, Collaborative posts

Private Feeds Limited Support

The Connection is limited to 60 days by Instagram, must manually renew connection in your Account.

Cover Images Always Center Cropped

Cover images on Reels will always display center-cropped in our widget. Custom crops on cover images will not apply to our widget.

Troubleshooting


Inactive Account

If your social grid widget doesn't show or stops showing images, try the following steps:

  1. Log in to the Account App

  2. Click Third-Party Integrations

  3. Click Connect Instagram Button

  4. Reauthorize your account

Clicking the Connect Instagram button will run a reauthorization process and reset our access to your IG/Facebook account. This usually happens when a setting or password in your IG/Facebook account has been changed or updated.

Trouble Reconnecting Instagram: "Your activity off Meta technologies is currently turned off."

If you are seeing this error message when trying to reconnect your Instagram within your Showit account:

{"error_type": "OAuthException", "code": 400, "error_message": "Your activity off Meta technologies is currently turned off."}

Then you can resolve it quickly by following the steps listed below:

  1. Log in to Facebook and go to your Settings section under your profile image.

  2. Then click to View the Off-Facebook Activity settings.

  3. Click on Manage future activity.

  4. Select the Connect future activity option to turn it on and click Confirm to save.

  5. Finally, try reconnecting Instagram in your Showit account. It should now work!

More Resources


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