When managing users' social media integrations within your application, providing clear options for removing access is essential for data privacy and user control. With Post for Me, we offer two distinct methods for removing a social account: Disconnecting and Deleting.
Here is a breakdown of how each method works and when to use them to handle user data appropriately.
Disconnecting an Account
Definition: Disconnecting an account safely revokes active API access while maintaining the historical record of the account in your system.
How it works
When you make a POST request to the /v1/social-accounts/{id}/disconnect endpoint, the system automatically removes all access tokens and refresh tokens. The account's status is marked as disconnected, but the core record is kept intact.
The User Experience: This method is ideal for users who want to temporarily pause access or need to re-authenticate due to expired credentials. Because the record remains, all historical data is preserved seamlessly. If the account is ever reconnected by the owner, the user picks up right where they left off without losing their historical data.
Deleting an Account
Definition: Deleting an account is a permanent action that completely wipes the account and all associated data from the system.
How it works
When an account is fully deleted, the record is destroyed. All access tokens, historical records, and associated data are completely removed from the database.
The User Experience: This method is necessary for users who are permanently leaving your platform or explicitly request to scrub their social data from your application. If the user decides to connect this specific social media profile again in the future, it will be treated as a brand-new account with absolutely no historical data attached.