In this article, we'll set up the X Social app so a live wall of posts from an X profile or hashtag displays on your OptiSigns screens.
- What You'll Need
- How It Works
- Create an X Social App
- Deploying an X Social App
- Pricing and Limits
- Troubleshooting
Show what people are saying on X, right on your screens. The X Social app turns the posts from an X profile or a hashtag into a live wall for your lobby, store or event: each post's text, author, avatar, time and image, kept up to date on its own.
X Social replaces the old Twitter Wall app. Here's how to set it up.
What You'll Need
- An OptiSigns account - Standard Plan or higher
- To show any profile other than the three free ones, or a hashtag, the X Social add-on. See Pricing and Limits below
- An OptiSigns-enabled device
- A screen, set up and paired with OptiSigns
- The X handle or hashtag you want to show. You don't need an X account or to sign in to X in order to display these
How It Works
Each X Social asset follows one source: a single X profile, such as @OptiSigns, or a single hashtag. To show more than one, create an asset for each and put them in a Split Screen or a playlist.
Three popular profiles are free on every Standard plan or higher: @natgeo, @uberfacts and @sportscenter. Pick one and it runs, no add-on needed. Any other profile, and any hashtag, needs the X Social add-on.
OptiSigns collects new posts from X for you on a regular schedule, and your screens play the posts it has collected. You do not need to sign in to your own X account to show these posts. With the Add-On, you can display posts from your own account, or any other you wish.
Create an X Social App
To set up an X Social app, go to the Files/Assets tab, then click Apps on the left side of the screen:
Search then click X Social.
Enter the details for your wall:
- Name - The name of your asset. It's for your own use inside OptiSigns and doesn't appear on screen.
- Post source - Profile to show the posts of one X account, or Hashtag to show posts that use one hashtag.
- Profile (Profile post source only) - Pick one of the free profiles from the list, marked Free (natgeo, sportscenter and uberfacts), or type any X handle, such as OptiSigns or @OptiSigns. A handle you type needs the X Social add-on. It's 1 to 15 letters, numbers or underscores, and OptiSigns checks it exists on X before it saves.
- Hashtag (Hashtag post source only) - The hashtag, without the #. Use letters, numbers and underscores only. Hashtag feeds need the X Social add-on. Posts with this hashtag will appear on the OptiSigns feed.
IMPORTANT |
| You can't change an asset's Post source, Profile or Hashtag after you save it. To follow a different account or hashtag, create a new X Social asset. |
Display Settings
Open Display Settings to choose how the wall looks:
-
Display Mode - The layout of the wall. Check the Preview on the right to see how they will look after saving the Asset for the first time.
- Social Kiosk View - The default.
- Single Post View
- Modern View
- Flip Card View
- Social Wall View
- Timeline View
- Bricks View
- Theme - Dark Theme (the default), Light Theme, or Custom. Custom lets you set the background, text, item and card colors yourself.
- Font Size - The size of the post text.
- Scrolling Strip Font Size - The size of the text in the scrolling strip.
- Post Duration - How quickly the wall moves from one post to the next. Medium by default.
- Continue Playing Content in Playlist - On by default.
- Show QR Code - Adds a QR code that viewers can scan to open the post on their phone. Off by default.
Post Settings
Open Post Settings to choose which posts appear and how many new ones are collected:
- Max Post Updates per Day (with the X Social add-on) - The most new posts this asset collects in a day. The default is 30. For a profile it can be 5 to 100, for a hashtag 10 to 100. It's your own ceiling on how fast one feed spends the add-on's monthly allowance, so a lower number makes the allowance last longer.
- Always show new posts - On by default, so new posts go on screen as soon as they're collected. Turn it off, then click the gear beside it to open the Moderation dialog, where you can hide or remove individual posts before they reach your screens.
- Only show posts with image - Leaves out posts that are text only.
-
Filter Type - Limits which collected posts play.
- None - Every collected post plays. The default.
- By Quantity - Only the latest posts, from 1 to 50.
- By Time - Only posts from the last 1 to 365 days.
When you're happy with it, click Save at the bottom right of the dialog.
Once the asset is saved, hover it in Files/Assets and click Preview to see the wall with real posts.
Deploying an X Social App
You can deploy your X Social app as an individual asset, or as part of a Split Screen, a playlist or a schedule.
To put it on a screen, go to the Screens tab, find the screen you want, and click Edit.
Set Content Type to Asset:
Click Change, pick your X Social asset, then click Save. Your wall will start playing on that screen.
Pricing and Limits
X Social is available on the Standard plan and above. The three free profiles, @natgeo, @uberfacts and @sportscenter, are included at no extra cost.
The X Social add-on unlocks the rest. It costs $25 per month or $270 per year, per account, not per screen. This is available on Standard plans or higher. There's no free trial.
To add it, go to Billing & Orders > Subscription Plan and find the X Social add-on:
The add-on includes:
- Any X profile you want, not just the free ones, plus hashtag feeds
- Up to 20 X profiles per account
- 1,000 post updates a month, shared across all your X Social assets
- New posts collected twice a day
- As many X Social apps as you like, on all your screens
If you need more profiles or a larger monthly allowance, contact support@optisigns.com.
NOTE |
| If you cancel the add-on, it stays active until the end of the period you've paid for. There's no refund for the rest of that period. |
Troubleshooting
"We can't find that profile on X."
The handle doesn't match an X account. Check it on x.com, then enter it again without spaces.
"That profile cannot be used" or "That hashtag cannot be used."
A handle can be up to 15 letters, numbers and underscores. A hashtag uses letters, numbers and underscores only. Leave out the @ or # if you still see the message.
"An X Social subscription is required to create this asset."
The profile or hashtag you entered needs the X Social add-on, which isn't on your plan. Pick one of the free profiles instead, or add the add-on from Subscription Plan and create the asset again.
"You have reached the number of custom profiles your X Social add-on includes."
Your add-on covers up to 20 profiles. Remove an X Social asset you no longer use, or contact support for more.
The wall stopped showing new posts.
Your account has used this month's 1,000 post updates, or the add-on is no longer active. The settings dialog tells you which. Your screens keep playing the posts they already have, and new posts start again when the next billing period begins or the add-on is active again.
A new post isn't on screen yet.
New posts are collected up to twice a day, so a post can take several hours to appear. If Always show new posts is off, the post also waits for you to approve it in Moderation.
That’s all!
OptiSigns is the leader in digital signage software. If you have any additional questions, concerns or any feedback about OptiSigns, feel free to reach out to our support team at support@optisigns.com.