Just created a twitter bot with python and tweepy (a python library to interact with twitter, http://www.tweepy.org/) which is following a defined set of users. This users are gathered from defined user’s followers. After a defined lease of days this followers are became unfollowed if they did not followed back during a new execution of the script.
This script also handles the max API calls per execution. –> normally the max limit is set to 300/15min.
All data will be stored and updated in a local CSV.
Basic steps:
1. Create an twitter application and describe the purpose and details. (https://developer.twitter.com/en/apps/)
App Name: Choose a unique name
Description: Description of your application
Sign in with Twitter: Enabled
Callback URL: http://127.0.0.1
App usage: Purpose and description of your application
2. Get the Keys and Tokens
Get the API keys from tab: “Keys and tokens” and store them in a different file
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# Variables that contain the user credentaials to access Tiwtter APIself. ACCESS_TOKEN = "1...i" ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET = "d...6" CONSUMER_KEY = "M...L" CONSUMER_SECRET = "6...X" |
3. Explore basic functions and API docs
Tweepy docs: http://docs.tweepy.org/en/v3.5.0/
Authentication
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import tweepy from tweepy import OAuthHandler import twitter_creds auth = OAuthHandler(twitter_creds.CONSUMER_KEY, twitter_creds.CONSUMER_SECRET) auth.set_access_token(twitter_creds.ACCESS_TOKEN, twitter_creds.ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET) |
Create a Tweet
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tweet = api.update_status(‘Hello World!’) |
Delete a Tweet
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tweet = api.update_status('something') api.destroy_status(tweet.id_str) |
Follow
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api.create_friendship('@vmwarecloudaws') |
Unfollow
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api.destroy_friendship('@vmwarecloudaws') |
Structure of CSV:
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id,screen_name,scannedOn,scannedFrom,followedOn,followedBackOn,unfollowedOn,state,recordState 2466userId6,screen_name,2019-03-18 11:49:30,screen_name,2019-03-23 11:49:30,2019-03-21 11:49:30,,bidirectional,True |
Python script:
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import csv #interact with CSV import sys #import sys for terminating script import datetime import time import random #to pick a user to get followers from - defined in list "toGetFollowersFrom" import tweepy from tweepy import OAuthHandler from tweepy.parsers import RawParser import twitter_creds #global list with user objects imported from CSV twitters = list() users = list() apiInteractions = 1 #starts on 1 because of the authentication #parameters maxAllowedApiInteractions = 200 #script will end after this number is reached ownScreen_Name = 'raphi_gassmann' #without (at) daysForFollowersToFollowBack = 7 toGetFollowersFrom = ["user1", "user2"] #csv filepath --> first row needs to be headers: id, screen_name, scannedOn, scannedFrom, followedOn, followedBackOn, unfollowedOn, state, recordState csvFilepath = '/Users/rgassmann/Desktop/twitter-bot/twitterBot.csv' #authentication - https://developer.twitter.com/en/apps/ auth = OAuthHandler(twitter_creds.CONSUMER_KEY, twitter_creds.CONSUMER_SECRET) auth.set_access_token(twitter_creds.ACCESS_TOKEN, twitter_creds.ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET) api = tweepy.API(auth) #api = tweepy.API(auth_handler = auth, parser = rawParser) # ========================== classes ========================== class User: def __init__(self, id, screen_name, scannedOn, scannedFrom, followedOn, followedBackOn, unfollowedOn, state, recordState): self.id = id self.screen_name = screen_name self.scannedOn = scannedOn self.scannedFrom = scannedFrom self.followedOn = followedOn self.followedBackOn = followedBackOn self.unfollowedOn = unfollowedOn self.state = state self.recordState = recordState def follow(self): ''' will create follow friendship with defined user ''' global apiInteractions try: apiInteractionAllowed() apiUser = api.create_friendship(self.id) #add as follower apiInteractions += 1 #increase apiInteraction print 'Followed user: %s, userId: %s' % (apiUser.screen_name, apiUser.id) now = datetime.datetime.now() global newUser newUser = User(apiUser.id, apiUser.screen_name, self.scannedOn, self.scannedFrom, now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'), self.followedBackOn, self.unfollowedOn, 'followed', True) #update CSV setRowToDeleted(self.id, csvFilepath) newUserToCsv(newUser, csvFilepath) twitters.append(newUser) except tweepy.TweepError as e: if (e.message[0]['code'] == 160): #already requested to follow print 'Alredy requested to follow user: %s, updating CSV...' % (self.screen_name) now = datetime.datetime.now() newUser = User(self.id, self.screen_name, self.scannedOn, self.scannedFrom, now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'), self.followedBackOn, self.unfollowedOn, 'followed', True) #update CSV setRowToDeleted(self.id, csvFilepath) newUserToCsv(newUser, csvFilepath) twitters.append(newUser) if (e.message[0]['code'] == 89): #expired ACCESS_TOKEN args = ('Invalid or expired token. Failed to unfollow user: %s, id: %s') % (self.screen_name, self.id) sys.exit(args) #end script if (e.meassage[0]['code'] == 161): #followed more than 1000 this day args = ('The limit to follow more than 1000 account this day is reached. More information here: https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-follow-limit') sys.exit(args) #end script if (e.message[0]['code'] == 34) or (e.message[0]['code'] == 108): #page does not exist, err108=cannot find specific user #delete user, seems is not existing any more setRowToDeleted(self.id, csvFilepath) else: print 'Following failed for user.screen_name: %s, user.id: %s' % (self.screen_name, self.id) print e pass def unfollow(self): ''' will destroy / unfollow defined user ''' global apiInteractions try: apiInteractionAllowed() apiUser = api.destroy_friendship(self.id) #remove as followed apiInteractions += 1 #increase apiInteraction print 'Unfollowed user: %s, userId: %s' % (apiUser.screen_name, apiUser.id) now = datetime.datetime.now() global newUser newUser = User(apiUser.id, apiUser.screen_name, self.scannedOn, self.scannedFrom, self.followedOn, self.followedBackOn, now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'), 'unfollowed', True) #update CSV setRowToDeleted(self.id, csvFilepath) newUserToCsv(newUser, csvFilepath) twitters.append(newUser) except tweepy.TweepError as e: if (e.message[0]['code'] == 89): #expired ACCESS_TOKEN args = ('Invalid or expired token. Failed to unfollow user: %s, id: %s') % (self.screen_name, self.id) sys.exit(args) #end script if (e.message[0]['code'] == 34) or (e.message[0]['code'] == 108): #page does not exist, err108=cannot find specific user #delete user, seems is not existing any more setRowToDeleted(self.id, csvFilepath) else: print e pass # ========================== pre checks ========================== def followedCleanUpNeeded(daysSinceFollowedOn): """ Is checking CSV if there are user in state=followed but not yet confirmed to followed back AND if they are followed more than 7 days ago AND if there are more than 10 users to perform the action on returning list of users which did not followed back """ print ' ====== CheckCleanUpNeeded ====== ' global apiInteractions apiInteractions += 1 apiInteractionAllowed() followers = tweepy.Cursor(api.followers, screen_name=ownScreen_Name, count=200).items() while True: try: follower = next(followers) except tweepy.TweepError as e: apiInteractionAllowed() print 'request of followers of %s timed out' % (ownScreen_Name) print e apiInteractions += 1 time.sleep(60*15) follower = next(followers) except StopIteration: break for user in twitters: if (str(user.id) == str(follower.id) and user.recordState == True and user.state != 'bidirectional'): now = datetime.datetime.now() newUser = User(follower.id, follower.screen_name, user.scannedOn, user.scannedFrom, user.followedOn, now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'), user.unfollowedOn, 'bidirectional', True) setRowToDeleted(str(follower.id), csvFilepath) newUserToCsv(newUser, csvFilepath) print 'new follower found and updated - screen_name: %s' % (follower.screen_name) compareDate = datetime.datetime.now()+datetime.timedelta(days=-daysSinceFollowedOn, hours=0) #today minus daysSinceFollowedOn pararmeter cleanUpUsers = list() print 'compareDate: %s' % (compareDate) for user in twitters: if (user.followedOn != '' and user.state == 'followed' and user.followedBackOn == '' and user.recordState == True): #check first if followedOn has content followedOnDatetime = datetime.datetime.strptime(user.followedOn, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') if (followedOnDatetime < compareDate): cleanUpUsers.append(user) print 'CleanUp needed for %s users' % (len(cleanUpUsers)) return cleanUpUsers def newUsersToFollow(): """ Is checking CSV if there are user in state=new to followed AND if there are more than threshold parameter defined users to perform the action on returning list of users objects """ print ' ====== CheckIfNewUsersToFollowExists ====== ' counter = 0 toFollow = list() for user in twitters: if (user.state == 'new' and user.recordState == True and user.followedOn == ''): toFollow.append(user) return toFollow def apiInteractionAllowed(): global apiInteractions global maxAllowedApiInteractions if (apiInteractions>=maxAllowedApiInteractions): args = ('Script terminated, because of: max API calls reached, API interactions: %s') % (apiInteractions) sys.exit(args) #end script # ========================== CSV interactions ========================== def readCsv(filepath): ''' reads defined CSV and creates user objects ''' file = open(filepath) global users users = list(csv.reader(file, delimiter=',')) #checking headers row if (users[0][0] == 'id' and users[0][1] == 'screen_name' and users[0][2] == 'scannedOn' and users[0][3] == 'scannedFrom' and users[0][4] == 'followedOn' and users[0][5] == 'followedBackOn' and users[0][6] == 'unfollowedOn' and users[0][7] == 'state' and users[0][8] == 'recordState'): #slicing data rows #users = users[1:][:] # not needed print 'valid CSV provided as input' else: print 'invalid CSV provided as input - please check headers row' pass for idx, val in enumerate(users): #check if record is set as active if (str_to_bool(users[idx][8]) == True): if (users[idx][0] != 'id' and users[idx][1] != 'screen_name'): # exclude headers #create user object user = User(users[idx][0], users[idx][1], users[idx][2], users[idx][3], users[idx][4], users[idx][5], users[idx][6], users[idx][7], str_to_bool(users[idx][8])) #append user to global twitters list twitters.append(user) else: #record is set as deleted, nothing to do pass def setRowToDeleted(userid, filepath): ''' sets a user record csv to inactive / deleted ''' #update object in twitters list for user in twitters: if (user.id == userid): user.recordState = False #update CSV for idx, val in enumerate(users): if (users[idx][0]==userid and str_to_bool(users[idx][8]) == True): users[idx][8] = 'False' writer = csv.writer(open(filepath, 'w')) writer.writerows(users) def newUserToCsv(user, filepath): ''' writes a new user object to CSV ''' newUser = [] newUser.append(user.id) newUser.append(user.screen_name) newUser.append(user.scannedOn) newUser.append(user.scannedFrom) newUser.append(user.followedOn) newUser.append(user.followedBackOn) newUser.append(user.unfollowedOn) newUser.append(user.state) newUser.append(user.recordState) users.append(newUser) writer = csv.writer(open(filepath, 'w')) writer.writerows(users) def str_to_bool(s): ''' converts a string to a boolean and retuning it ''' if s.upper() == 'TRUE': return True elif s.upper() == 'FALSE': return False else: return s # ========================== gathering new followers from ... ========================== def gatheringUsersToFollow(username): global apiInteractions apiInteractions += 1 followers = tweepy.Cursor(api.followers, screen_name=username, count=200).items() while True: try: follower = next(followers) except tweepy.TweepError: apiInteractionAllowed() apiInteractions += 1 time.sleep(60*15) follower = next(followers) except StopIteration: break userAlreadyExist = bool(False) for user in twitters: if (str(user.id)==str(follower.id)): userAlreadyExist = bool(True) if not userAlreadyExist: now = datetime.datetime.now() newUser = User(follower.id, follower.screen_name, now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'), username, '', '', '', 'new', True) newUserToCsv(newUser, csvFilepath) print 'new user added as state: new to follow - screen_name: %s' % (follower.screen_name) # ========================== main ========================== if __name__ == '__main__': #open CSV readCsv(csvFilepath) # PRIO 1: CleanUp toUnfollow = followedCleanUpNeeded(daysForFollowersToFollowBack) if (len(toUnfollow)>0): print 'CleanUp needed! --> running CleanUp' for user in toUnfollow: print 'user for cleanup: %s' % (user.screen_name) user.unfollow() # --> just be sure !!!!sys.exit('just check') # PRIO 2: follow toFollow = newUsersToFollow() if len(toFollow)>20: print 'Following needed --> found %s users to follow' % (len(toFollow)) for user in toFollow: user.follow() # PRIO 3: get followers of gatheringUsersToFollow(random.choice(toGetFollowersFrom)) args = ('Script terminated, because of: All actions performed (no limit reached), API interactions: %s') % (apiInteractions) sys.exit(args) #end script |