# Creator and influencer lookup from public profiles

2026-08-16

> Public profile and follower counts on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Lookup, not ad buying.

- Index: https://fetcher.sh/blog.md
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![A team working together at a long table of laptops](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1519389950473-47ba0277781c?auto=format&fit=crop&w=1600&q=80)

Photo by Marvin Meyer on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=fetcher_sh&utm_medium=referral).

Looking up a creator is a public-profile job: handle, follower count, recent posts or Shorts, on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X. It is not Meta Ads, not the official Graph API, and not a course on becoming an influencer. You resolve the handle, you read the public counts, you list recent public content.

Private insights are out. Restaurants are [listings](/blog/restaurant-hospitality-listings-as-json), not creators. Follower *lists* are the [graph note](/blog/follower-following-graphs-x-instagram-tiktok); this note is the job: find and size a public creator.

A media kit is a PDF the talent sent you. A public profile is what anyone can see. This host family returns the second as JSON. If they only perform on a private account, they are not in this catalog.

## Lookup, not campaigns

Start with [handle resolution](/blog/resolving-a-social-handle-to-a-stable-id) if you only have `@name`. Then profile plus followers. Then reels, Shorts, or tweets as proof of work.

`curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer bby_live_…' 'https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/handle/natgeo'`

Same pattern on [tiktok.fetcher.sh](https://tiktok.fetcher.sh), [youtube.fetcher.sh](https://youtube.fetcher.sh), and [twitter.fetcher.sh](https://twitter.fetcher.sh). Follower count is a public field, not Ads Manager insights. Recent reels or Shorts are proof of work, not a media kit.

YouTube has no follower graph in this catalog. You still resolve a channel and list videos or Shorts. Do not call IG followers a YouTube number.

## Ads and private insights stay elsewhere

We do not sell campaign APIs or private insights. Public lookup only. Always resolve the handle before you pull a graph. Handles change; ids usually do not. Store the id on day one so next quarter’s roster check is a comparison, not a scavenger hunt.

If the brief is “boost this post,” you are in Ads Manager. If the brief is “are they real and public,” you are here.

## A case: a roster check before you send the email

A podcast booker has a spreadsheet of handles and a suspicion that half of them are different people than last year. They resolve each handle, store the id, and compare follower counts and recent public posts to last quarter’s notes.

Handles that 404 are gone. Handles that resolve to a new id are a rename. Handles that still post Shorts every day are still in the game. None of this is an ads API. If the id is unknown, always resolve first.

They do not email the ones that went private. Those accounts are not fetchable here, which is the correct answer, not a bug.

## A case: four networks, one name

A brand wants “the same person” on IG, TikTok, YouTube, and X. The handles do not match. The booker resolves each candidate, compares profile text and recent posts, and they still use a human for the last mile.

JSON will not swear it is the same human. It will give you four public profiles. That is lookup, not identity resolution as a surveillance product. Stop before you turn it into one.

Follower counts are a public field and they are also a vanity metric. Pair them with recent posts. An account with a large number and no public posts this quarter is a different object than an account that posts Shorts every day. The lookup is both numbers. Ads Manager would add insights you cannot see here; do not hallucinate them into the spreadsheet.

Restaurants and hotels with IG pages are still listings when the question is “should we send guests.” Use [hospitality listings](/blog/restaurant-hospitality-listings-as-json) for ratings. Use this note for “is this chef a public creator.” Both can be true. They are not the same row.

A booker who runs this monthly: resolve, store ids, fetch a handful of recent Shorts or reels, compare to last month’s notes. They do not pull the full follower graph every month. Lookup is the profile and the proof of work. Graphs are a different article and a different cost.

If the talent only exists on YouTube, skip IG follower counts in the same row. Empty cells are honest. Filled-in guesses are how a roster lies.

## Public profiles only

We do not sell campaign APIs or private insights. Public lookup only. Always resolve the handle before you pull a graph. Docs on the four hosts; 402 or a key. If they went private, the correct next step is to stop, not to find another vendor that will pretend. Media kits can lie; public posts this month cannot hide as easily. Prefer the posts. Counts are the second column, not the first. Cross-network handles that almost match still need four resolves, not one and a guess. The email you send can wait until the ids are in the sheet. A wrong @ is a public correction waiting to happen. Proof of work is last week’s posts, not a screenshot from last year. Empty cells beat invented counts.