Skip to content

Connecting a channel through a client link

What a /connect link is for, and why the page tells you the connection cannot be completed in this release.

Updated

A connect link is a single-use web address an agency can send a client so the client signs in to their own social account without ever sharing a password. The link itself works: it is single-use, it expires, and it can be revoked.

The sign-in step it leads to is not built in this release. If you open a connect link today, the page will tell you plainly that connecting that network is not built yet, and no button to continue will be offered.

BEFORE YOU START

  • A connect link, sent to you by whoever manages your Social Studio account. The link is the only credential; there is no sign-in on this page.
  • Nothing else. You do not need a Social Studio account, and there is no charge.
  • If you are the agency: there is no page in Social Studio that issues a connect link. Links are created through the API only, so this is not a workflow you can currently run from the interface.

STEPS

  1. Open the link you were sent. The page loads with no menus and no sign-in.
  2. Read what the page says about the network named on it.
  3. If the page says the connection is not available yet, stop and tell the person who sent you the link. There is nothing you can do from your side, and the link itself is not the problem.
  4. If the page says the link is no longer available, ask for a new one. Links are single-use and expire after a set number of days, so an old or already-used link is expected to stop working.

WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE

A page headed "Connect your {network} account". Below it, in this release, a panel reading "Not available yet." followed by an explanation that connecting that network is not built, that this is not a setting anyone can switch on, and that the link itself is fine.

WHAT THIS WILL NOT DO

  • It will not sign you in to a network. The flow can build the address of the network's consent screen, but the address the network would return you to has no page behind it, so a customer sent onward would land on a missing page. The product refuses to start the flow rather than doing that.
  • Configuring a network's OAuth client does not fix this. There is no setting an owner or an operator can change that makes the return step exist. That is a build change, not an activation.
  • It never sees your password. The design of the flow is that you would sign in with the network directly. Nothing about your account is typed into Social Studio at any point.

IF IT DOES NOT WORK

  • "This connection link is no longer available" covers four cases with one sentence on purpose: expired, revoked, already used, or never valid. Ask for a new link rather than trying to work out which.
  • "This page could not be loaded" means something failed at our end, not that your link is wrong. Try again shortly.
  • "We could not start the connection just now, and nothing has been connected." means the same: nothing has changed, your link is unaffected.
  • If you are the agency and cannot find where to create a link, that is expected: no page in either client creates one.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Can the client connect their account another way?

Bluesky can be connected directly by someone signed in to Social Studio. No other network can be connected at all in this release, whichever route is used.

Is the page safe to open?

Yes. It is deliberately uncacheable, is not indexed by search engines, and does not leak the token in a referrer header.

  • Connecting your channels

    What the Connections page shows, which networks can publish today, and what the account health states mean.

  • Connecting Bluesky

    How to connect a Bluesky account with an app password, and what Bluesky lets Social Studio post.