In this lecture, I would like to show you how can you find the metadata of an Instagram account?
Now, the metadata might sometimes contain some useful information, such as if an Instagram account
is linked to a Facebook profile or not.
The user ID and some other information that you can see in the screenshot.
Now to do this, we need to change our browser user agent and a user agent is basically when you go
to a website, your browser will send information about your browser and your operating system, such
as which operating system you are running on, which browser you are using, which version, etc. so
we need to change this information to an Android device because we will be using an Instagram API,
and the only way to access this page is by changing our user agent.
So the first thing we need is to add the user agent, switcher and manager add on to our Firefox or
Chrome, and after you add it to your browser, the next thing you need is the user ID of the Instagram
account and we already have Rishi Kobra user ID.
Next you need to be logged in to your Instagram account.
And lastly, you need to change your user agent.
So here is the add on.
I'm going to click on it.
And then I'm going to click on here.
And then select Instagram.
And then I'm going to select windows and change it to Android.
So we want to access the API using an Android device.
And if we read the user agent, every website we visit is going to think that we are windows.
But if we select a user agent now, every website will think that we are running or using Mozilla 5.0
and Android device and a Samsung, etc. so then I'm going to say apply and then if I refresh the page,
you will see that the view is going to be changed a little bit, like here for example.
And the last thing we need is this URL.
So this URL will allow us to access an and Instagram API, and all we have to do is just to replace
this number with the user ID, and I've already replaced the number that was here with the user ID of
Rishi Khabra.
You'll find this link in the resources of this lecture.
And then I'm going to copy this link and open a new tab and then hit enter.
And as you can see here are the information that we were able to find about this Instagram account about
Rishi Khabra.
We can see his full name, his user ID, his username and some other information.
For example, if he had any biography, if there was any external links, if he had any page ID, etc.
we can also see the people that were suggested.
So I always like to minimize this because these are not important.
And we can also see his follower count following count and read all of this information.
Now, the coolest thing about this is that when we tried to save Rishi Khabra profile picture, we were
only able to get the 320 by 320 pixels.
But if you were able to access the URL or the API, then you will find an HD version of his profile
picture.
So I'm going to open this and you can see that this is 512 by 512, which is mentioned in here.
And this is the one that we were able to save before.
But if we have the metadata of his profile, we will be able to see a high resolution of his profile
picture.
Now, I have realized that he uploaded a 512 by 512 picture.
And I've tried this with other accounts and we're able to get even higher resolution.
Now, what I always like to do is just to make a copy of this JSON file by clicking on save, and then
I can save it in Rishi Khabra folder.
So in this video you have learned how you can extract the metadata of any Instagram account by changing
your browser user agent.