// Guides
Guides
Plain-language guides to finding out what’s working.
Ad libraries
See the ads any brand runs, and get them out.
-
Guide · Meta
How to use the Meta Ad Library (Facebook Ad Library)
What the Meta Ad Library is, how to search it by brand or keyword, what each filter does, what an ad shows you, and what it never shows, such as spend on ordinary ads.
-
Guide · Meta
How to download ads from the Meta Ad Library
The Meta Ad Library has no download button for ordinary ads. Here are the ways that do work: saving an ad's image by hand, the political ads report, the Ad Library API, and a whole brand's ads as a spreadsheet.
-
Guide · Meta
How to see your competitors' Facebook ads
Step by step: find every ad a competitor runs on Facebook and Instagram in the free Meta Ad Library, what to look for to spot the ones that work, and what you can't see.
-
Guide · Meta
Meta Ad Library API: what it covers and how to get access
What Meta's free Ad Library API returns (political ads everywhere, every ad shown in the EU and UK), how to get access, its limits, and what to use for ordinary ads in the US and elsewhere.
-
Guide · TikTok
TikTok Ads Library: how to see any brand's TikTok ads
TikTok has two places to look at ads: the Commercial Content Library, which lists ads shown in Europe, and Creative Center's Top Ads, a hand-picked set of high performers. What each one shows, how to search it and what it leaves out.
-
Guide · LinkedIn
LinkedIn Ad Library: how to see a company's LinkedIn ads
How to search LinkedIn's Ad Library by company, keyword or country, what each ad shows (and the extra detail for ads aimed at the EU), how long ads are kept and what it can't tell you.
-
Guide · Google
Google Ads Transparency Center: how to see any company's Google ads
How to find a company's Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps and Play ads in Google's Ads Transparency Center, by advertiser or website, what the filters do, what each ad shows and what it leaves out.
-
Comparison · Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Google
Ad libraries compared: Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn and Google side by side
Which ads each public ad library holds, for which countries, for how long, and whether it shows spend, reach or targeting, checked against each platform's own pages in October 2026. Then how to follow one brand across all of them.
-
Guide · Meta
How to download a video from the Facebook (Meta) Ad Library
Facebook's Ad Library has no video download button and its API returns no files. Right-click works on some ads; Parsly links to every video a brand runs.
Transcripts
Get the words out of a video.
-
Guide · YouTube
How to get a YouTube transcript (free, on any device)
Step by step: open a YouTube video's transcript on a computer or phone, copy it without the times, download captions for your own videos, and get transcripts for a whole channel at once.
-
Guide · TikTok
How to get a TikTok transcript (one video or a whole account)
TikTok shows captions on most videos but gives you no transcript to copy. Here are the ways to get the words out of a TikTok, from typing them up to collecting a creator's whole feed with its transcripts.
-
Guide · Instagram
How to get an Instagram Reel transcript
Instagram writes captions for most Reels with speech but gives you no transcript to copy. Here's where the captions are, the ways to get the text out, and how to get the transcripts of a creator's Reels at once.
-
Guide · Loom
How to get a Loom transcript, and download a Loom video
Loom lets you copy a transcript, but downloads depend on your plan and the owner's settings. How to get the words and the MP4 from any Loom you can watch.
-
Guide · TikTok
TikTok transcript generators compared: free sites, AI and bulk tools
Free websites, TikTok's own captions, AI speech-to-text, TikTok's Research API and bulk tools for a whole account: what each kind of TikTok transcript generator does, what it needs, and which to pick.
-
Guide · Instagram
How to get an Instagram transcript (videos, Stories, Lives and whole accounts)
Instagram writes captions for many videos but has no transcript to copy. Here's how to get the words out of any kind of Instagram video, your own or someone else's, one at a time or a whole account at once.
-
Guide · YouTube
How to get a YouTube Shorts transcript (when there's no Show transcript button)
The Shorts player hides YouTube's transcript, even on Shorts with captions. Here's the one-line link change that brings it back, how to download your own Shorts' captions, and how to get transcripts for a channel's Shorts in bulk.
Learning from creators
Find what took off for an account, and why.
-
Guide · TikTok
How to go viral on TikTok (a method, not a list of hacks)
What TikTok itself says decides what lands on the For You feed, and a repeatable way to learn from accounts like yours: find their breakouts, take apart how they open, and plan your own.
-
Guide · Instagram
How to go viral on Instagram (and work out what to post)
What Instagram itself says about how Reels and Explore are ranked, and a repeatable way to decide what to post: find what broke out for accounts like yours, take it apart, and test your own versions.
-
Guide · Instagram, TikTok
How to find your best time to post on Instagram and TikTok
Why the 'best time to post' charts don't fit your account, where Instagram and TikTok show when your own followers are online, and a simple two-week test to find the times that work for you.
-
Guide · YouTube
How to find a YouTube channel's best videos and outliers
YouTube can sort a channel's videos by views, but it can't show which beat the channel's usual. Find the most viewed videos and the real outliers.
-
Guide · TikTok
How to find a TikTok creator's best videos (the ones that beat their usual views)
See any public TikTok account's most-viewed videos and spot the breakouts worth studying: by hand, with stats sites like Social Blade, or with Parsly. Plus what TikTok analytics shows for other people's accounts (very little).
-
Guide · Instagram
How to find an Instagram creator's best Reels
Instagram doesn't sort a profile's Reels by views. Here's how to find the Reels that took off for any public creator, measured against their own usual views, by hand or in bulk, and what the numbers can't tell you.
-
Guide · X
X (Twitter) algorithm 2026: how it ranks posts, how to grow
How the X (Twitter) algorithm ranks For You posts, from the weights X published in 2026: what it rewards and punishes, and how small accounts grow with it.
-
Guide · X
How to get more followers on X (Twitter): what works in 2026
How small accounts get followers on X (Twitter) in 2026: replying early, posts that break out, how often to post, Premium, and what gets your account limited.
-
Guide · X
How to go viral on X (Twitter): what breaks out in 2026
What makes posts go viral on X (Twitter) in 2026: the two-hour window for small accounts, what the ranker rewards, real breakouts, and how to get more views.
Saving videos
Keep a copy of a video, or a creator's whole feed.
-
Guide · TikTok
How to save TikTok videos (one video, your own, or a creator's feed)
TikTok's own Save video button, why it's sometimes missing, how to keep copies of your own TikToks, and how to save many of a creator's videos together with their views for research.
-
Guide · Instagram
How to download Instagram Reels (yours, and ones you're allowed to)
What Instagram lets you do with a Reel: save it to a collection, download public Reels when the creator allows it, keep copies of your own, export your account, and keep a creator's Reels with their numbers for research.
-
Guide · Facebook
How to download Facebook videos (your own, and saving others' to watch later)
What Facebook lets you do with a video: save it to watch later, download your own reels and videos, export everything you've posted, and keep a Page's videos with their numbers for research.
-
Guide · X
How to download videos from X (Twitter)
What X lets you do with a video: download it if you pay for Premium and the poster allows it, bookmark it, get your own videos in your X archive, and keep an account's videos with their numbers for research.
-
Guide · Pinterest
How to download Pinterest videos (and images)
What Pinterest lets you do: save Pins to a board, download images, download full-screen video Pins when the creator allows it, request your own data, and keep an account's Pins with their numbers for research.
-
Guide · Instagram
How to download Instagram Reels on a computer (PC or Mac)
Instagram has no download button on a computer. Save a Reel to your PC or Mac as an MP4: send it from your phone, export your own, or use a Chrome extension.
-
Guide · TikTok
Download TikTok videos on a computer without a watermark
TikTok's Save video button lives in the phone app and can add a watermark. Save a TikTok to your computer as a clean MP4 with a free Chrome extension.
Exporting data
Posts, comments, courses and numbers into a spreadsheet.
-
Guide · Instagram
How to export Instagram comments to a spreadsheet
Instagram has no button to export the comments on someone else's post. Here are the ways that do work: copying by hand, your own data download, the API for your own business account, and Parsly for a creator's posts.
-
Guide · LinkedIn
How to export LinkedIn posts (yours, or a creator's)
Export your own LinkedIn posts and their analytics with LinkedIn's own tools, why there's no official way to read other people's posts, what LinkedIn's rules say about scrapers, and how Parsly collects a creator's posts as you scroll.
-
Guide · X
How to export posts from X (Twitter): your archive, the API, and a creator's posts
Download your own X archive, what X's API costs to read posts now that it's pay-per-use, and how to collect a creator's posts with their numbers into a spreadsheet.
-
Guide · Skool
How to export a Skool community's posts and courses
Skool has no documented export for posts or courses. Here's how to get a community's posts and classroom lessons into a spreadsheet, with their numbers.
-
Guide · Reddit
How to export subreddit posts and comments to CSV
Get a subreddit's posts and comments into a CSV or spreadsheet without code, with points, flair, upvote ratio and top replies. Reddit has no export of its own.
Parsly in Claude
Ask about any account in your own words.
Teardowns
How companies get their customers and creators grow their audience, from public evidence.
-
Teardown · AG1
How AG1 gets its customers: a funnel teardown
We pointed REG at AG1, the greens powder, and followed its funnel from the ads to the loyalty scheme, using only public evidence. Here's what came back, with the sources.
-
Creator teardown
How Danny Postma grew HeadshotPro on search, ads and affiliates
Only 4 of his last 306 posts on X are about HeadshotPro. Customers come from Google, paid ads and a 30% affiliate scheme.
-
Creator teardown
How Pieter Levels grew to 983k on X and $165k a month
X is everything. After his Lex Fridman podcast, his typical post climbed from 499 to 829 likes in five months. His biggest posts are opinions about money, countries and tech, not launches.
-
Creator teardown
How Marc Lou grew to 416k on X and $90k a month
X is the engine. YouTube broke out in spring 2024. He has no TikTok of his own; he pays fans to clip him.