Social Media Profiles

Social Profiles discovers the social media accounts associated with a business and returns platform-specific metadata - follower counts, business account status, contact details, and more. When social profile URLs are submitted in the request, Baselayer also verifies whether they are independently confirmed.

When to use it

• You want to assess a business's digital legitimacy through its social media presence
• You need to cross-reference contact details (website, phone, email) found on social profiles against submitted application data
• You are verifying social profile submissions from applicants, confirming the profiles they claim belong to their business
• You are evaluating a sole proprietor or SMB where social presence is a primary identity signal in the absence of a website

How to request it

Social Profiles is available on both integration paths, but with different capabilities on each.

Via POST /web_presence_requests

Include Order.SocialMedia in the options array. This is the recommended path when you need the full Social Profiles feature set, including input_social_profiles and social_profiles_match.

{
  "name": "Lucali",
  "address": "575 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231",
  "options": ["Order.SocialMedia"]
}

Results are returned inline at found_social_profiles[]. If social_profiles were submitted in the request, input_social_profiles[] and social_profiles_match[] are also returned.

Via POST /searches with Order.Enhanced

Social Profiles are included automatically as part of Order.Enhanced. Results are returned at business.social_profiles[]. input_social_profiles and social_profiles_match are not available on this path.

Order.SocialMedia as a standalone option is not available on POST /searches, use Order.Enhanced or switch to POST /web_presence_requests if you need social profiles without a full Enhanced Search.

Submitting known social profiles for verification

If the applicant provides social profile URLs during onboarding, submit them in the social_profiles array. Baselayer will attempt to independently verify each one and return the result in social_profiles_match[].

{
  "name": "Lucali",
  "address": "575 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231",
  "social_profiles": [
    { "site": "instagram", "value": "lucali_bk" },
    { "site": "facebook", "value": "Lucalis-176347757162" }
  ],
  "options": ["Order.SocialMedia"]
}

Response fields

found_social_profiles[] fields

Each entry in the array represents one discovered social media profile.

On POST /searches with Order.Enhanced, social profiles are returned at business.social_profiles[]. On POST /web_presence_requests, they are returned at found_social_profiles[]. The object structure is identical.

Platform-specific metadata fields

social_profiles_match[] fields

Returned when social_profiles were submitted in the request. Each entry echoes back one submitted profile with a verification result.

Interpreting results

Social Profiles contributes two types of value: legitimacy signals (does this business have a real, established social presence?) and identity corroboration (do the contact details on social profiles match the submitted application?).

Always filter by confidence: high before using a profile in automated decisions. Medium and low confidence profiles may belong to unrelated businesses with similar names. Only high confidence profiles should influence decisioning.

found_on[] indicates ownership strength. A profile with found_on: ["FOUND_WEBSITE"] was linked directly to the business's independently discovered website - a strong ownership signal. A profile discovered through general search alone carries less weight.

Cross-reference metadata contact fields against the application. The business_website, phone_number, and email fields in platform metadata are independently sourced from each platform. In impersonation cases, these fields will consistently point to the real business - not the submitted application data. See Social Profiles section in the Online Presence: Best Practices guide.

Weigh signals by sector. Consumer-facing businesses (retail, hospitality, food service) are expected to have Instagram and Facebook presence. B2B and professional services firms are better assessed through LinkedIn. Sole proprietors are often identified primarily through social presence when no website exists. See Sector-specific guidance in the Online Presence: Best Practices guide.

Related guides

• Online Presence: Basics — integration path decision guide and data model
• Online Presence: Best Practices — full decisioning framework including social profile signals
• Online Presence: Response Reference — match values, match sources, and response shape by integration path
• Reviews — complements social profiles for consumer-facing business verification
• Web Presence API Reference — full endpoint documentation