Meta (Facebook & Instagram) datasource

The Meta datasource displays Facebook Page posts and Instagram feeds on your screens. There is a single Meta datasource type — the connected credential (and, for Meta Business Suite, the selected Type) determines whether it pulls Facebook page posts or an Instagram feed.

It is an external datasource that authenticates through a Meta cloud credential and refreshes on a schedule (once per day by default).

Prerequisites

Before creating a Meta datasource, ensure you have:

• A Facebook Page and/or an Instagram Professional (Business or Creator) account
• To display an Instagram feed through a Facebook Page, the Instagram account must be linked to that Page
• The ability to log in to Meta during credential setup
• A Wallboard account with permission to create cloud credentials and datasources

Create the Meta credential

Meta credentials are created under the dedicated Meta tab in Cloud Credentials.

1. Navigate to Settings >> Cloud Credentials and open the Meta tab
2. Click Add credential — the Add Meta credential dialog opens
3. Choose the credential type:
   • Meta Business Suite (Facebook + Instagram) — connect a Facebook account and its Pages (and any linked Instagram accounts). Use this for Facebook page feeds and Instagram page feeds.
   • Instagram Professional Account — connect an Instagram Professional account directly. Use this for the Instagram feed.

4. Enter a Name, optionally assign Teams, and complete the Meta login when prompted
5. Click Save

Create the Meta datasource

1. Go to Settings >> Datasources >> External datasources and click Add new
2. On the Choose a datasource type screen, select Meta
3. In the datasource editor, fill in the Meta settings panel (left side):
   • Credentials — select a saved Meta credential
   • If you selected a Meta Business Suite credential:
     • Type — choose Facebook page feed (the Page's posts) or Instagram page feed (the Instagram feed of the account linked to the Page)
     • Pages — select the Page
   • If you selected an Instagram Professional Account credential, no further fields are needed — the datasource pulls that account's Instagram feed
   • Maximum number of posts — how many posts are retrieved from the feed. Accepts 1–100, and defaults to 30

4. In the Advanced settings panel (middle), the Refresh interval (seconds) under Refresh settings defaults to 86400 (once per day) — change it if you want a different refresh cadence. See External Datasources for the full list of advanced and cache settings.
5. Save the datasource using the save icon in the top toolbar

The combination of credential and Type determines what the datasource returns:

Credential	Type	Returns
Meta Business Suite	Facebook page feed	Posts from the selected Facebook Page
Meta Business Suite	Instagram page feed	The Instagram feed of the account linked to the selected Page
Instagram Professional Account	(not applicable)	The connected Instagram account's feed

Verify your setup

After saving:

1. The Preview panel (right side of the editor) populates with the returned posts — confirm the post text, media, and dates match the source account
2. In the datasource list, the datasource status should show as Active

Feed data structure

The datasource normalizes Facebook and Instagram feeds into an RSS-style structure: a channel object with an items array. The base structure is the same for both platforms; Instagram feeds add engagement fields (followersCount, likeCount, commentsCount) that Facebook page feeds do not include.

Facebook page feed:

{
  "channel": {
    "title": "string",
    "description": "string",
    "publishDate": 0,
    "link": "string",
    "items": [
      {
        "guid": "string",
        "title": "string",
        "description": "string",
        "publishDate": 0,
        "link": "string",
        "categories": [],
        "media": { "url": "string" },
        "attachments": [
          { "url": "string", "type": "image | video" }
        ],
        "qrCode": null,
        "publishDateISO": "string"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Instagram feed (adds followersCount, likeCount, commentsCount):

{
  "channel": {
    "title": "string",
    "description": "string",
    "publishDate": 0,
    "link": "string",
    "followersCount": 0,
    "items": [
      {
        "guid": "string",
        "title": "string",
        "description": "string",
        "publishDate": 0,
        "link": "string",
        "categories": [],
        "media": { "url": "string" },
        "attachments": [
          { "url": "string", "type": "video" }
        ],
        "qrCode": null,
        "likeCount": 0,
        "commentsCount": 0,
        "publishDateISO": "string"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Field	Description
channel.title / channel.description	Page or account name and description
channel.link	Link to the Page or profile
channel.followersCount	Follower count (Instagram only)
items[].title / items[].description	Post caption / text
items[].publishDate / items[].publishDateISO	Post date as a timestamp and as an ISO string
items[].link	Permalink to the post
items[].media.url	Primary image or thumbnail URL
items[].attachments[]	Attached media — url plus type (image or video)
items[].likeCount / items[].commentsCount	Engagement counts (Instagram only)

Display the feed

Because the data uses the RSS-style channel → items structure, you can display it with the Media widget the same way as an RSS feed — bind the widget to the datasource and it will cycle through the posts (image/description). You can also use data binding to place individual fields (caption, media, date, link) into any widget.

Datasource auto-deactivation

Like other external datasources, a Meta datasource is automatically deactivated after a period of no device usage to preserve performance. Its data and configuration are retained. See Auto-deactivation for details, or enable Prevent auto-deactivation to keep it always active.