rtweet (version 0.6.9)

get_followers: Get user IDs for accounts following target user.

Description

Returns a list of user IDs for the accounts following specified user. To return more than 75,000 user IDs in a single call (the rate limit maximum), set "retryonratelimit" to TRUE.

Usage

get_followers(user, n = 5000, page = "-1", retryonratelimit = FALSE,
  parse = TRUE, verbose = TRUE, token = NULL)

Arguments

user

Screen name or user ID of target user from which the user IDs of followers will be retrieved.

n

Number of followers to return. Defaults to 5000, which is the max number of followers returned by a single API request. Twitter allows up to 15 of these requests every 15 minutes, which means 75,000 is the max number of followers to return without waiting for the rate limit to reset. If this number exceeds either 75,000 or the remaining number of possible requests for a given token, then the returned object will only return what it can (less than n) unless retryonratelimit is set to true.

page

Default page = -1 specifies first page of JSON results. Other pages specified via cursor values supplied by Twitter API response object. If parse = TRUE then the cursor value can be extracted from the return object by using the next_cursor function.

retryonratelimit

If you'd like to retrieve more than 75,000 followers in a single call, then set retryonratelimit = TRUE and this function will use base Sys.sleep until rate limits reset and the desired n is achieved or the number of total followers is exhausted. This defaults to FALSE. See details for more info regarding possible issues with timing misfires.

parse

Logical, indicating whether to return parsed vector or nested list object. By default, parse = TRUE saves you the time [and frustrations] associated with disentangling the Twitter API return objects.

verbose

Logical indicating whether or not to print messages. Only relevant if retryonratelimit = TRUE. Defaults to TRUE, prints sleep times and followers gathered counts.

token

Every user should have their own Oauth (Twitter API) token. By default token = NULL this function looks for the path to a saved Twitter token via environment variables (which is what `create_token()` sets up by default during initial token creation). For instruction on how to create a Twitter token see the tokens vignette, i.e., `vignettes("auth", "rtweet")` or see ?tokens.

Value

A tibble data frame of follower IDs (one column named "user_id").

Details

When retryonratelimit = TRUE this function internally makes a rate limit API call to get information on (a) the number of requests remaining and (b) the amount of time until the rate limit resets. So, in theory, the sleep call should only be called once between waves of data collection. However, as a fail safe, if a system's time is calibrated such that it expires before the rate limit reset, or if, in another session, the user dips into the rate limit, then this function will wait (use Sys.sleep for a second time) until the next rate limit reset. Users should monitor and test this before making especially large calls as any systematic issues could create sizable inefficiencies.

At this time, results are ordered with the most recent following first <U+2014> however, this ordering is subject to unannounced change and eventual consistency issues. While this remains true it is possible iteratively build follower lists for a user over time.

See Also

https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/accounts-and-users/follow-search-get-users/api-reference/get-followers-ids

Other ids: get_friends, next_cursor

Examples

# NOT RUN {
# }
# NOT RUN {
## get 5000 ids of users following the KFC account
(kfc <- get_followers("KFC"))

## get max number [per fresh token] of POTUS follower IDs
(pres <- get_followers("potus", n = 75000))

## resume data collection (warning: rate limits reset every 15 minutes)
pres2 <- get_followers("potus", n = 75000, page = next_cursor(pres))

## store next cursor in object before merging data
nextpage <- next_cursor(pres2)

## merge data frames
pres <- rbind(pres, pres2)

## store next cursor as an attribute in the merged data frame
attr(pres, "next_cursor") <- next_page

## view merged ddata
pres

# }
# NOT RUN {
# }