Buffer

Facebook is one of the few OG social media networks that’s stood the test of time (RIP MySpace 🥲). When it launched, you couldn't schedule posts or connect your Instagram account because... well, Instagram didn’t exist yet. Over the years, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, added Instagram (then WhatsApp and Threads) to its portfolio, opened the door for businesses to connect with their audiences, and launched features to help creators grow on its platforms.

Social data is more accessible than ever. We released Insights at Buffer, and with a button, I can export my data very easily (I would’ve probably cried with joy to have this feature as a social media manager in 2014). Now, in addition to all of our social data, we also have the power of AI at our fingertips.

At a glance Customer: Dustin Kuhns, founder of Kuhns, Inc. Based in: Mid-Atlantic, US What he does: Consulting for arts and culture organizations, connecting their strategy to social, email, and the rest of their communications Channels in Buffer: 10+ How he uses Insights: Tags campaigns by theme and subject, then reads performance back across a full year to shape what his clients post and program next Dustin Kuhns started using Buffer in 2023.

A few weeks ago, one of our engineers, Andy Yates, got an email at his personal address. It was from the team at TRMNL, who make beautifully minimal e-ink displays with a thriving plugin ecosystem behind them. Part of their job is scouting the best plugins people build on the platform, and they'd spotted a private one called "Buffer." They wanted to know if he'd be up for releasing it to everyone. What they didn't know was that Andy actually works at Buffer.

For a long time, my ideas were scattered everywhere. Some were in my Notes app. Others were screenshots on my phone that I’d never opened again, or buried in old Claude conversations. Sometimes I'd remember a good line from a voice note I recorded months ago, but have no idea where to find it. Everything was saved somewhere, just never anywhere I'd look when it was time to make something. And even with this mega-level disorganization, I had been getting by fine.

I'm trying to hit 5,000 Instagram followers by the end of Q2 2026, and Instagram DM automation is one of the biggest reasons I'm even remotely close to that goal. If you’ve been on Instagram recently, you've almost certainly seen it in action. A creator posts a reel and says, "comment GUIDE and I'll send it to your DMs." You comment, and seconds later, the thing lands in your inbox. That's DM automation, and it’s a big part of what has helped me build my following.

I collect vintage Pokémon cards, and they're quite hard to get a hold of. Often, the card I needed was only available in a bulk lot someone was selling. So, through trying to source cards for my own collection from old box sets and starter packs, I ended up with a lot of "spare" cards. Selling the spares started as a side hobby, but I soon built up an inventory of over 1,000 cards and realized I needed a better process to keep the logistics smooth and manageable.

Sameer Ali is the kind of developer who, when faced with a repetitive task, builds an app to fix it. He's also a creator, publishing coding content on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under the name coding.kitty — and his build-an-app approach was exactly how he removed almost all the admin from his social presence.

Buffer's API is here, which means you can now connect Buffer to the tools you already use to build new, more powerful workflows. Our new public API lets you publish, schedule, and manage your social presence from wherever you already work, whether that's a no-code automation tool, your own environment, or an AI agent acting on your behalf. The API features an MCP and a CLI and ultimately opens the door to more members from our community building tools and apps on top of Buffer.

I use Buffer to post on LinkedIn about the tools and tech updates that power my work as a full-stack engineer. The scheduling, the queue, the publishing — all of that works great for me. But there was always this one moment in the workflow where I'd get stuck. I'd open Buffer, navigate to the Create Space, and just...stare at a blank screen. It's not that I had nothing to say. But sitting there trying to figure out what to actually post (what's trending right now?