Social media

Referencing style

30 September 2023

HOW TO APPLY

Facebook post

Author, A. A. OR Name of Group. (Year, Month Date). Content of post up to the first 20 words [Description]. Facebook. URL

Ministry of Education. (2017, March 16).��Canterbury’s brand new Lemonwood Grove School [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/EducationGovtNZ/posts/1452687051422666

New ��سԹ�Red Cross. (2017, March 16). More than 20 million people in Nigeria [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/NewZealandRedCross/posts/1359650854078676

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Parenthetical citations: (Ministry of Education, 2017;��New ��سԹ�Red Cross, 2017)
Narrative citations: Ministry of Education (2017) and New ��سԹ�Red Cross (2017)
This format can be adapted for posts to other social media services, such as Tumblr and LinkedIn.

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Facebook page

Author, A. A. OR Name of Group. (n.d.). Page title [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

Christchurch City Council. (n.d.). Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/ChristchurchCityCouncil/?ref=page_internal

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Parenthetical citation: (Christchurch City Council, n.d.)
Narrative citation: Christchurch City Council (n.d.)
Use the page title in the reference, for example Timeline, Home, Photos, About.
This format can be adapted for references to other platform or profile pages, such as YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn.
See also on the APA Style website.

Instagram photo or video

Author, A. A. OR Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of post up to the first 20 words [Description]. Instagram. URL

��سԹ� Lib [@uclibrary]. (2018, November 27). UC’s architectural drawings declared a national heritage treasure! Housed at the Macmillan Brown ��سԹ�, the Armson Collins Architectural Drawings Collection [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BqrJg7Agu75/

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Parenthetical citation: (��سԹ� Lib, 2018)
Narrative citation: ��سԹ� Lib (2018)

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Instagram highlight or profile

Author, A. A. OR Name of Group [@username]. (n.d.). Content of highlight or profile up to the first 20 words [Description]. Instagram. Retrieved, Month Date, Year, from URL

��سԹ� Lib [@uclibrary]. (n.d.-a). Our best books [Highlight]. Instagram. Retrieved, November 25, 2021, from https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17849804728356390/

��سԹ� Lib [@uclibrary]. (n.d.-b). Posts [Instagram profile]. Instagram. Retrieved, November 25, 2021, from https://www.instagram.com/uclibrary/

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Parenthetical citations: (��سԹ� Lib, n.d.-a, n.d.-b)
Narrative citations: ��سԹ� Lib (n.d.-a, n.d.-b)

Use n.d. for the date; although each story within a highlight is dated, the highlight itself is not dated and may include stories from multiple dates.
Because a highlight or profile can change at any time, include the retrieval date.
See also on the APA Style website.

X post (formerly tweet)

Author, A. A. OR Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of post up to the first 20 words [Post]. X. URL

Ministry of Health–Manatū Hauora [@minhealthnz]. (2021, November 23). We’re working on transforming mental health legislation. It is important to hear what New Zealanders want from mental health legislation [Video attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/minhealthnz/status/1462933036232630274

UC ��سԹ� [@uoclibrary]. (2021, November 1). We’re excited to have recognition from UNESCO’s Memory of the World Aotearoa register for the papers of Canterbury poet Ursula [Image attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/uoclibrary/status/1454899150059802628

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Parenthetical citations: (Ministry of Health–Manatū Hauora, 2021; UC ��سԹ�, 2021)
Narrative citations: Ministry of Health–Manatū Hauora (2021) and UC ��سԹ� (2021)

X profile

Author, A. A. OR Name of Group [@username]. (n.d.). Title of X profile tab [X profile]. X. Retrieved, Month Date, Year, from URL

UC ��سԹ� [@uoclibrary]. (n.d.). Replies [X profile]. X. Retrieved, November 25, 2021, from https://x.com/uoclibrary/with_replies

Provide a retrieval date as the contents of the profile page can change over time.

Parenthetical citation: (UC ��سԹ�, n.d.)
Narrative citation: UC ��سԹ� (n.d.)

See also on the APA Style website.

Cite only original content from social media sites.

If you used social media to discover content that you want to cite, cite it directly – there is no need to mention that you found the content through a link on social media.

Social media posts may contain text alone, text with audiovisuals (e.g., photos, videos) or audiovisuals only.

Include the text of a social media post up to the first 20 words.
Note the presence of audiovisuals in square brackets after the text of the post, for example [Image attached], [Infographic], [Thumbnail with link attached], [Video].

Social media posts may have non-standard spelling and capitalisation, hashtags, links and emojis.

Do not alter the spelling and capitalisation in the reference.
Retain hashtags and links.
Replicate emojis if possible. If unable to replicate the emoji, provide the emoji’s name in square brackets, for example [face with tears of joy emoji]. .
When calculating the number of words in your reference, count a URL or other link, a hashtag or an emoji as one word each, and include them in the reference if they fall within the first 20 words. Do not italicise emojis.