How to cite a social media post

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B18 / R18.10.1 · Internet & electronic

Example

Video posted by Mike Rafi (@mikerafi), TikTok, The Dreaded BLUEBOOK! (July 27, 2023), https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSYa5dRCv/ (on file with the Harvard Law Review).

More examples

Each of these is checked against the rules on every change to the tool.

Anu Bradford (@anubradford), X (Mar. 14, 2024, at 06:59 ET), https://x.com/anubradford/status/1768230542661628035 [https://perma.cc/5MZ6-3PUR].
Image posted by u/orhazelw, Reddit (r/LawSchool), When Roe v. Wade gets overturned on the night before your con law exam. (2022), https://www.reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/uh49q6/x (on file with the Yale Law Journal).

What the citation needs

Required

Account name — The source’s name, as the rule for this type gives it.
Platform — The service the material was posted on.

When they apply

Content type — R18.10.1: “Video”, “Photo”, “Thread” — printed as “Video posted by …”.
Handle — The account’s handle: “@mikerafi”.
Subdivision / instance — The article, section or paragraph cited, abbreviated per T16 (“art.”, “§”, “¶”).
Post title or text — The title as it appears on the source. R8(a): capitalize every word except articles, conjunctions and prepositions of four or fewer letters, unless they begin the title or follow a colon.
Reposted from — The reposted from, as it appears on the source.
Reposted-from handle — The reposted-from handle, as it appears on the source.
Date — The date the rule for this source calls for, with the month abbreviated per T12 (“Nov. 24, 1978”).
Time — The time, where the source is dated to it.
URL — The web address, where you cite the source online (R18.2).
Perma / archive URL — An archived copy’s address, such as a perma.cc link, given in brackets after the URL (R18.2.1(d)).
On file with — Where a reader can get an unpublished or hard-to-find source: what follows “on file with” — “author”, or the library or journal holding it (R17.1).

In a brief and in a law review

The Bluebook sets citations two ways: the Bluepages for court documents and legal memoranda, the Whitepages for law review footnotes. Here is the first example above as each one prints it, in its typeface.

Court documents (Bluepages)

Video posted by Mike Rafi (@mikerafi), TikTok, The Dreaded BLUEBOOK! (July 27, 2023), https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSYa5dRCv/ (on file with the Harvard Law Review).

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

Video posted by Mike Rafi (@mikerafi), TikTok, The Dreaded BLUEBOOK! (July 27, 2023), https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSYa5dRCv/ (on file with the Harvard Law Review).

The words are the same in both; only the typeface changes.

Governing rules

B18 / R18.10.1

18 — the internet, electronic media & other nonprint resources.
18.10.1 — social media platforms.

Build this citation with the generator, check one you have already written, or paste a whole list of footnotes to check them in order.

Related source types

Internet & electronic: