Social media wall software, with moderation built in
A social wall puts your community on the lobby screen, the event stage or the campus TV: your own posts, a hashtag, a YouTube channel. Nex-Gen OOH collects the posts on your server, lets you approve them first if you want, and shows them on any screen you run. Nothing unexpected appears in front of a visitor.
How it works
- A social feed collects posts from up to 10 sources: an account, a hashtag, a Facebook Page, a YouTube channel or playlist, or a search.
- A Social wall widget shows one feed on a screen, in a playlist or a layout zone like any other content.
- Screens never talk to a social network. Your Nex-Gen OOH server fetches the posts and keeps its own copies of the images. A screen only loads the wall from your server, which is also why a wall that is already showing keeps its posts when the internet is down.
Three layouts
- One post at a time, large: a good fit for a portrait lobby screen.
- Grid: a page of cards, rotating.
- Ticker: one scrolling line, made for a strip zone under other content.
All three work in portrait and landscape. Post text is always shown as plain text, with its author and network.
Moderation
- Show new posts straight away, or approve each one first. An approved post that its author edits goes back for review.
- Blocked words. Posts whose text, author name or handle contains a blocked word are hidden as they arrive. Matching sees through accents, invisible characters and look-alike letters.
- Pictures only, and a maximum age. Hide text-only posts, and leave out old ones.
- Hidden stays hidden. A post you hide never comes back on its own, and posts their authors delete disappear from the wall.
Mastodon posts with a content warning or marked sensitive are never shown. Reposts and replies are left out everywhere.
What each network needs
| Network | Sources | What you bring |
|---|---|---|
| Bluesky | Accounts, search | Nothing |
| Mastodon | Accounts, hashtags | Nothing |
| Your professional account, hashtags | Your own Meta app and token; hashtags need Meta App Review | |
| A Page’s own posts | A Page access token from your own Meta app | |
| YouTube | Latest videos of a channel or playlist | A YouTube Data API key |
| X (Twitter) | Accounts, search (last 7 days) | Your own app’s bearer token, on a paid X API plan |
Connections belong to your organization. Tokens are stored encrypted, never shown again after saving and never sent to a screen. Instagram tokens renew themselves.
Set it up
- For Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or X, an organization owner or admin adds a connection under Settings → Social connections and presses Test. Bluesky and Mastodon need no setup.
- Under Social feeds → New feed, add your sources and choose whether new posts appear automatically or wait for approval.
- Under Widgets → New widget → Social wall, choose the feed and a layout, then add it to a playlist.
- Each network’s permissions, costs and limits are in the social walls guide.
Limits
- LinkedIn isn’t supported. Reading a company Page needs an API LinkedIn only grants to vetted partners, and its terms restrict showing content outside LinkedIn.
- TikTok isn’t supported. Its Display API only covers the signed-in user’s own videos, and a wall would show thumbnails it cannot play.
- Threads isn’t built yet. Its API access rules are still changing.
- X charges for API access. Each fetch uses your plan’s reads, so check X’s current plans.
- A wall never plays YouTube videos. It shows thumbnails and titles. To play a video, add it as a playlist item.
- Posts update every few minutes, not live. The server fetches each feed every 10 minutes by default (5 minutes to 24 hours), and screens check every 2 minutes.
- Each network’s developer terms apply to how you show its content. Showing your own account’s posts is the simplest case.
FAQ
Which social networks can a wall show?
Instagram, Facebook Pages, YouTube, X, Bluesky and Mastodon. LinkedIn and TikTok are not supported, and Threads is not built yet.
Can I approve posts before they appear?
Yes. Set a feed to approve each post first, and new posts wait until someone approves them. You can also hide posts with blocked words, show only posts with pictures, and hide a post at any time.
Do I need API keys?
Bluesky and Mastodon need none. Instagram, Facebook and X need a token from your own developer app, and YouTube needs an API key. X API access is paid.
Does the wall work for an event hashtag?
Yes. Use a hashtag on Instagram or Mastodon, or a search on X or Bluesky. Instagram hashtags need a Facebook Login connection and Meta App Review, and Instagram limits an account to 30 different hashtags in 7 days.
What happens if the venue Wi-Fi drops?
A wall that is already showing keeps its posts. A screen that restarts while offline shows the wall title until the server answers.
Put your community on the big screen
Start a 14-day Pro trial on hosted Nex-Gen OOH: up to 15 screens, every feature, no credit card. A Bluesky or Mastodon wall needs no keys at all.
Or host it yourself, free and open source: self-hosting guide · GitHub