APA (7th edition) · Social Media Post
How to cite a social media post in APA (7th edition)
A social-media citation credits a specific post, not an account or a platform. The classic mistakes are paraphrasing a screenshot without a link to the original, and citing a repost as if it were the source post, which misattributes the author.
Worked example · APA (7th edition)
Lovelace, A. (2025, May 30). Thread on writing a defensible discussion chapter. Bluesky. https://www.example.org/social/discussion-thread
Rendered with the official APA (7th edition) style file from a placeholder source (reserved example DOI and domain), so the format is exactly what the style produces. In text: Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a References list.
What to collect before you cite a social media post
- The author's name and handle
- The text of the post, or its first words, as the title
- The platform name
- The exact post date
- The URL of the post itself, plus your access date
Have a DOI? Generate the reference instantly
Journal articles, many books and reports carry a DOI. Paste it and get the APA (7th edition) entry from the same engine that produced the example above.
Citing a whole thesis, not one source?
CiteDash keeps your bibliography in APA (7th edition) automatically, verifies every citation against a real paper, and compiles to DOCX, PDF or LaTeX.
Citing a social media post in APA (7th edition): FAQ
The post might get deleted. Should I archive it?
Yes. Save an archived copy or a screenshot alongside the URL, and cite the original URL with your access date. Deleted evidence you cannot produce weakens the point it supported.
How much of the post goes in the title slot?
Most styles take the first twenty words or so, kept exactly as written, including emoji if the style allows. The URL carries the rest.
Is a social post acceptable evidence in a thesis?
As evidence OF something, yes: public statements, discourse you analyse, community reactions. As evidence FOR an empirical claim, look for a published source instead.
What does the in-text citation look like in APA (7th edition)?
Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a References list.
Is the example on this page hand-written?
No. It is rendered by the same citation engine and official CSL style file CiteDash uses for full thesis bibliographies, from a clearly-marked placeholder source, and a test re-renders it on every release so the page can never drift from the engine.