Verifying your social links

Social links on your profile aren't free Audience – they have to be verified before their follower count adds to your Audience total. This is how we keep numbers honest: anyone can say they have "10M followers on X", but only the person who actually has the account can prove it.

How verification works

You add a short token (something like fr-7A3F9C2K-4M8NPQ) to the bio of the social account you're linking, and we check that the token appears on the live profile. Once it matches, the link is verified and its followers join your Audience.

For Instagram and Threads, the editor can also show a Verify with Instagram or Verify with Threads button. You sign in to that platform and approve, and the link is verified with no bio edit. A personal (non-professional) Instagram account can't use the button – use the token instead.

If you verified with a token, leave it in your bio – don't delete it. We re-check it every time we refresh your follower counts, so if the token disappears the link is un-verified again and its followers drop back out of your Audience.

Add a social link
In the profile editor, click Add social link, pick the platform, paste your profile URL, and click Save under the link – verification only starts for a saved link.
Copy the verification token
Click Verify this social media link. The editor shows a unique token under Step 1: Copy this code. Copy it.
Paste the token into your bio on that platform
Open your account on Instagram/X/YouTube/etc. and edit your bio. Paste the token anywhere in it and save the change.
Click Verify now
Back in the FameRace editor, click I've added it. Verify now. We check the live profile for the token. The token is valid for 24 hours – if it expires, click Verify this social media link again to get a fresh one.
Leave the token in place
Once verified, the link starts counting toward your Audience. Keep the token in your bio so it stays verified on later refreshes.

Which platforms can be verified

Bio-token verification works for Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, GitHub, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. LinkedIn can't be verified – its bio sits behind a login we can't read. Website and other detailed links can't be verified from the profile editor and never count toward Audience.

What if verification fails?

If the platform caches your bio (most do for a few minutes), Verify may say "We couldn't find the token in your … bio" right after you paste. Wait 60 seconds and click Check again. If it instead says "Verification temporarily unavailable", the problem is on our side – try again a little later.

A few common reasons:

The token is in the wrong account (different handle than the URL you submitted).
Your account is private – we can't read private bios. Either flip the account public during verification or use a different link.
The platform changed its bio layout and the token didn't make it through – drop us a note at support@famerace.com.

Why we don't just trust the URL

A link in your profile to instagram.com/somebody doesn't prove you control that account. Without verification, anyone could pad their Audience by listing other people's accounts. Verification is what keeps the leaderboard honest.