Aggregating Historic content from social networks

Does Buzzspark aggregate old content when I create a Source?

By default, when you create a Source, Buzzspark starts aggregating matching content from that point in time. When aggregation for a Source first begins, most social networks will also include up to 25 pieces of older content, however this varies from network to network and depends on the age of the most recent matching content.

If you need to aggregate Historic content (also known as backfilling), this feature must be enabled in the Source settings and configured with a date/time from which you want to aggregate content.

How does Historic content aggregation work in Buzzspark?

A Source that has been configured to aggregate Historic content will ingest both new and historic content in parallel. This is by design so that you have an immediate stream of any new content as well as backfilling of Historic content. It also minimises the risk of missing any new content.

It is also recommended that you connect additional social accounts to Buzzspark, for each social network where you either have busy Sources that are ingesting lots of content or have large sets of content to backfill.

How to enable aggregation of Historic content for a new Source

When creating a Source and before you save the Source, click on the Aggregation tab.



Select the Aggregate historic content for this Source checkbox.

Click in the Aggregate Content From field and enter the date/time from which you want to start backfilling content. You can either use the date/time selector or manually type in the required date and time in the format: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.

Either continue specifying additional properties for the Source, or if you are done, click the Save and Close button at the bottom right.

How to enable aggregation of Historic content for an existing Source

An existing Source that has already aggregated content will need to be deleted and re-created to aggregate Historic content. This also applies to any Source that is already configured to aggregate Historic content, for which you want to change the date/time from which you want to start backfilling content.

From the left menu, navigate to Content > Sources.

Locate the Source in question and click on the corresponding Edit button in the Actions column.

Make a note of all the settings for the Source under each of the tabs. These settings will be needed in the next step where you essentially recreate the Source. Once you have noted all the settings, click on the Close button at the bottom.

Back on the Sources page, locate the Source in question and this time click on the corresponding Delete button in the Actions column. Confirm the action when prompted.

Deleting a Source does NOT delete any content that has already been aggregated, including any changes such as Moderation and Tags.

Back on the Sources page, click on the + Source button on the top right. This launches the Create New Source window. Enter all the settings you noted previously and continue with the next step before saving the Source.

Click on the Aggregation tab.



Select the Aggregate historic content for this Source checkbox
Click in the Aggregate Content From’ field and enter the date/time from which you want to start backfilling content. You can either use the date/time selector or manually type in the required date and time in the format: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.
Finally, click the Save and Close button at the bottom right.

The new Source will begin aggregating new and backfilling Historic content. Any content previously aggregated will simply be refreshed and not duplicated.

To ensure content is aggregated when your campaign launches, we recommend you set up your Sources at least a few days prior to your campaign launch, particularly when using new hashtags (hashtags not previously seen on social networks). It also gives you time to check your Sources are set up and aggregating correctly.

Updated on: 03/02/2023