Set up a Microsoft connector to archive Twitter data (preview)

Use a connector to import and archive data from Twitter to Microsoft 365. After you set up and configure the connector, it connects to your organization's Twitter account (on a scheduled basis), converts the content of an item to an email message format, and then imports those items to a mailbox in Microsoft 365.

After the Twitter data is imported, you can apply Microsoft Purview features such as Litigation Hold, Content Search, In-Place Archiving, Auditing, and Microsoft 365 retention policies to the Twitter data. For example, when a mailbox is placed on Litigation Hold or assigned to a retention policy, the Twitter data is preserved. You can search third-party data using Content Search or associate the mailbox where the Twitter data is stored with a custodian in a Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium) case. Using a connector to import and archive Twitter data in Microsoft 365 can help your organization stay compliant with government and regulatory policies.

After Twitter data is imported, you can apply Microsoft Purview features such as Litigation Hold, Content Search, In-Place Archiving, Auditing, Communication compliance, and Microsoft 365 retention policies to the data stored in the mailbox. For example, you can search Twitter data using Content Search or associate the mailbox where the data is stored with a custodian in an eDiscovery (Premium) case. Using a connector to import and archive Twitter data in Microsoft 365 can help your organization stay compliant with government and regulatory policies.

If you’d like to participate in the preview, please reach out to the team at [email protected].

Before you set up a connector

Complete the following prerequisites before you can set up and configure a connector in the Microsoft Purview portal or the Microsoft Purview compliance portal to import and archive data from your organization's Twitter account.

• You need a Twitter account for your organization; you need to sign in to this account when setting up the connector.

• Your organization must have a valid Azure subscription. If you don't have an existing Azure subscription, you can sign up for one of these options:

  • Sign up for a free one year Azure subscription

  • Sign up for a Pay-As-You-Go Azure subscription

• The Twitter connector can import a total of 200,000 items in a single day. If there are more than 200,000 Twitter items in a day, none of those items will be imported to Microsoft 365.

• The user who sets up the Twitter connector in the Microsoft Purview portal or the compliance portal (in Step 5) must be assigned the Data Connector Admin role. This role is required to add connectors on the Data connectors page in the Microsoft Purview portal or the compliance portal. This role is added by default to multiple role groups. For a list of these role groups, see Roles in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Purview compliance. Alternatively, an admin in your organization can create a custom role group, assign the Data Connector Admin role, and then add the appropriate users as members. For instructions, see:

  • Permissions in the Microsoft Purview portal
  • Permissions in the compliance portal
  • Roles and role groups in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Purview compliance

Step 1: Create an app in Microsoft Entra ID

The first step is to register a new app in Microsoft Entra ID. This app corresponds to the web app resource that you implement in Step 2 for the Twitter connector.

For step-by-step instructions, see Create an app in Microsoft Entra ID.

During the completion of this step (by following the step-by-step instructions), you'll save the following information to a text file. These values will be used in later steps in the deployment process.

• Microsoft Entra application ID
• Microsoft Entra application secret
• Tenant Id

Step 2: Deploy connector web service from GitHub repository to your Azure account

The next step is to deploy the source code for the Twitter connector app that will use Twitter API to connect to your Twitter account and extract data so you can import it to Microsoft 365. The Twitter connector that you deploy for your organization will upload the items from your organization's Twitter account to the Azure Storage location that is created in this step. After you create a Twitter connector in the Microsoft Purview portal or the compliance portal (in Step 5), the Microsoft 365 Import service will copy the Twitter data from the Azure Storage location to a mailbox in Microsoft 365. As previous explained in the Before you set up a connector section, you must have a valid Azure subscription to create an Azure Storage account.

To deploy the source code for the Twitter connector app:

1. Go to this GitHub site.
2. Select Deploy to Azure.

For step-by-step instructions, see Deploy the connector web service from GitHub to your Azure account.

While you follow the step-by-step instructions to complete this step, you provide the following information

• APISecretKey: You create this secret during the completion of this step. It's used in Step 5.
• tenantId: The tenant ID of your Microsoft 365 organization that you copied after creating the Twitter app in Microsoft Entra ID in Step 1.

After completing this step, be sure to copy the app Service URL (for example, https://twitterconnector.azurewebsites.net). You need to use this URL to complete Step 3, Step 4, and Step 5).

Step 3: Create developer app on Twitter

The next step is to create and configure a developer app on Twitter. The custom connector that you create in Step 7 uses the Twitter app to interact with the Twitter API to obtain data from your organization's Twitter account.

For step-by-step instructions, see Create the Twitter app.

During the completion of this step (by following the step-by-step instructions), you save the following information to a text file. These values will be used to configure the Twitter connector app in Step 4.

• Twitter API Key
• Twitter API Secret Key
• Twitter Access Token
• Twitter Access Token Secret

Step 4: Configure the Twitter connector app

The next step is to add configurations settings to the Twitter connector app that you deployed in Step 2. You do this by going to the home page of your connector app and configuring it.

For step-by-step instructions, see Configure the connector web app.

During the completion of this step (by following the step-by-step instructions), you'll provide the following information (that you've copied to a text file after completing the previous steps):

• Twitter API Key (obtained in Step 3)
• Twitter API Secret Key (obtained in Step 3)
• Twitter Access Token (obtained in Step 3)
• Twitter Access Token Secret (obtained in Step 3)
• Microsoft Entra application ID (the Microsoft Entra application ID obtained in Step 1)
• Microsoft Entra application secret (the Microsoft Entra application secret obtained in Step 1)

Step 5: Set up a Twitter connector in the Microsoft Purview portal or the compliance portal

The final step is to set up the Twitter connector in the Microsoft Purview portal or the compliance portal that will import data from your organization's Twitter account to a specified mailbox in Microsoft 365. After you complete this step, the Microsoft 365 Import service will start importing data from your organization's Twitter account to Microsoft 365.

For step-by-step instructions, see Set up a Twitter connector.

During the completion of this step (by following the step-by-step instructions), you'll provide the following information (that you've copied to a text file after completing the steps).

• Azure app service URL (obtained in Step 2; for example, https://twitterconnector.azurewebsites.net)
• APISecretKey (that you created in Step 2)