Working With Insights
Facebook Insights enables you to search and analyze data about how users are interacting with your Facebook page. Metrics are displayed in read-ony tables called views.
Views are comprised of columns and pseudo-columns. Like tables, they display data in columns and rows, and you can execute a query against a view to refine its results further. (The query will return another read-only table). However, because views are read-only you cannot interact with the data itself unless there is a stored procedure available to modify the data source.
Available views include:
View Name | Description |
InsightsByConsumptionType | Retrieves insights sorted by how users consumed your content; for example, playing a video, viewing a photo, or clicking a link. |
InsightsByFeedbackType | Retrieves insights sorted by feedback type, such as likes or comments. |
InsightsByLikeSourceType | Retrieves insights sorted by source type; for example, ads, news feedk or page suggestions. |
InsightsByReactionTotals | Shows reactions to your page sorted by type; for exanple, like, love, wow, haha, sorry, or anger. |
InsightsByStoryType | Sorts insights by story type, such as user post, page post, checkin, question, or coupon. |
InsightsByTabType | Sorts insights by tab type, such as About, Ads, or Album. |
InsightsByUnlikeSourceType | Retrieves insights on actions users take to withdraw a previous "like" of your page. |
SimpleInsights | Displays simple insights (insights with a single value, given in response to a question) retrieved by your page. |
VideoInsightsByActionType | Returns video insights as the total number of likes, comments, or shares of that video. Valid only for the entire lifetime of the video posting. |
VideoInsightsByDistributionType | Displays video insights sorted by distribution type, such as owned, shared, or crossposted. |
VideoInsightsByReactionType | Retrieves video insights sorted by reaction type, such as like, love, wow, haha, sorty, and anger. |
The sole stored procedure available for manipulating any of the above views is CreateInsightSchema.
For details about Facebook views, including some sample queries, see Views.
For a breakdown of insight mapping by category, see Insight Mapping Reference.
Recently Removed Insights
Since Facebook frequently makes changes to the available insights, the following table summarizes the insights most recently removed or renamed.View or Stored Procedure | Insight Name | Available Periods | Target Type |
PageAndPostInsights | PAGE_VIEWS_UNIQUE | day, week | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | PAGE_STORYTELLERS_BY_STORY_TYPE | day, week, days_28 | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | POST_IMPRESSIONS_BY_PAID_NON_PAID | lifetime | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | PAGE_IMPRESSIONS_BY_PAID_NON_PAID | day, week, days_28 | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | PAGE_IMPRESSIONS_BY_PAID_NON_PAID_UNIQUE | day, week, days_28 | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | POST_IMPRESSIONS_BY_PAID_NON_PAID_UNIQUE | lifetime | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | PAGE_POSTS_IMPRESSIONS_BY_PAID_NON_PAID | day, week, days_28 | page |
InsightsByPaidStatus | PAGE_POSTS_IMPRESSIONS_BY_PAID_NON_PAID_UNIQUE | day, week, days_28 | page |