HyperHerd - Data Backed Hype Tracker
HyperHerd - Data Backed Hype Tracker
HyperHerd - Data Backed Hype Tracker
Automatic daily follower tracking across all platforms for free.
Automatic daily follower tracking across all platforms for free.
Automatic daily follower tracking across all platforms for free.
In my previous post, I introduced HyperHerd, a tool I developed to track my social media followers across various platforms without compromising security. The initial version, built with AppleScript and Python, worked well but had several limitations.
In this post, I’ll dive into how I transformed HyperHerd from a Mac-only script into a cross-platform Chrome extension, solving the challenges of the first approach while adding new features.
The Limitations of AppleScript
Before I jump into the new version, let’s quickly revisit the problems with the original HyperHerd:
1. Mac-only: AppleScript limited us to macOS.
2. User interruption: The script took over the user’s machine while running.
3. Manual activation: Users had to start the script manually.
4. No historical data: I couldn’t track follower counts over time.
5. Offline issues: The script would break without an internet connection.
These limitations were significant, but they also provided clear objectives for the next iteration of HyperHerd. Let’s see how I tackled each one.
The Chrome Extension
The solution to most of our problems lay in browser extensions. Chrome extensions can run in the background, work across operating systems, and leverage the browser’s existing authentication. This seemed like the perfect fit for HyperHerd.
Here’s a high-level overview of how the new HyperHerd works:
1. Users add their profile links through a web interface.
2. The extension periodically visits each link in hidden tabs.
3. It captures the entire page as MHTML and parses it for follower counts.
4. The counts are stored locally and can be synced to a server.
Now, let’s break down how this solves our previous issues and introduces new capabilities.
1. Cross-Platform Compatibility
By moving to a Chrome extension, HyperHerd instantly became available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The core logic is written in JavaScript, which runs identically across these platforms. Here’s a snippet of how I create a new tab and capture its contents:
chrome.tabs.create({ url: link.link, active: false }, async (newTab) => {
// Wait for the page to load
setTimeout(async () => {
// Capture the entire page as MHTML
chrome.pageCapture.saveAsMHTML({ tabId: newTab.id }, async (blob) => {
let content = await blob.text();
// Parse the content for follower count
// …
});
}, 15000); // Wait 15 seconds for page load
});
2. Background Operation
Chrome extensions can run in the background, even when the window is hidden. This means HyperHerd can update follower counts without interrupting the user. I use Chrome’s alarm API to schedule these updates:
chrome.alarms.create("updateFollowers", {
periodInMinutes: 60 * 12, // Run every 12 hours
});
chrome.alarms.onAlarm.addListener((alarm) => {
if (alarm.name === "updateFollowers") {
runFollowerUpdate();
}
});
3. Automatic Updates
With the alarm system in place, users no longer need to manually start the follower count update. The extension takes care of this automatically at regular intervals.
4. Historical Data Tracking
One of the most exciting improvements is the ability to store historical follower counts. I use Chrome’s storage API to keep this data locally:
async function saveFollowerRecord(record) {
let { followerRecords } = await chrome.storage.local.get("followerRecords");
followerRecords.push(record);
await chrome.storage.local.set({ followerRecords });
}
This allows us to generate graphs and track growth over time, which was impossible with the previous version.
5. Improved Reliability
By running within the browser, HyperHerd can take advantage of Chrome’s existing login sessions. This means it can access pages that require authentication without additional setup. Additionally, if there’s no internet connection when an update is scheduled, the extension simply retries later instead of breaking.
New Feature: OCR-Free Parsing
In the AppleScript version, I relied heavily on OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract follower counts from screenshots. This was prone to errors and didn’t work well with varying screen resolutions and designs.
The Chrome extension takes a different approach. Instead of screenshots, I capture the entire page as MHTML (MIME HTML), which includes all the page’s resources. Then, I convert this to Markdown and use regular expressions to find the follower count. Here’s a simplified version of our extraction function:
async function extractFollowerCount(text, platform) {
let markdown = await convertToMarkdown(text);
const followerType =
{
youtube: "subscribers",
instagram: "followers", // … other platforms …
}[platform] || "followers";
const regex = new RegExp(`\\[[\\d,]+ ${followerType}\\]`, "i");
const match = markdown.match(regex);
if (match) {
return parseInt(match[0].replace(/[^\d]/g, ""), 10);
}
return -1; // Indicates failure to parse
}
This method is much more reliable than OCR and adapts well to changes in page layout.
New Feature: Multiple Account Support
The new HyperHerd supports multiple users, each with their own set of tracked profiles. This is achieved by associating all data with a unique tracker ID.
Each tracker can have its own update interval, profile links, and follower records. This lays the groundwork for potential future features like sharing trackers or comparing growth between accounts.
Challenges and Future Improvements
While the Chrome extension solves many of the initial problems, it’s not without its own challenges:
1. Extension permissions: Users need to approve quite broad permissions (access to all websites), which can be off-putting. I’mexploring ways to reduce this, possibly by using a whitelist.
2. Rate limiting: Some platforms might block or throttle requests if they come too frequently from the same IP. I’m considering adding random delays between updates to mitigate this.
3. Changing page structures: Websites frequently update their HTML structure, which can break our parsing. I’m looking into machine learning approaches that could adapt to these changes automatically.
4. Data portability: Currently, all data is stored locally in the browser. I’m working on a companion web app that would allow users to sync and visualize their data across devices.
The Future
Evolving HyperHerd from an AppleScript to a Chrome extension has been an exciting journey. We’ve solved the major limitations of the initial approach while introducing powerful new features like historical data tracking and multi-account support.
The core philosophy remains the same: provide a simple, secure way for creators to track their social media growth without sharing passwords or connecting accounts to third-party services. By leveraging browser technologies, we’ve made this vision a reality across all major desktop platforms.
If you’re intrigued by HyperHerd and want to experience its benefits firsthand, I have great news for you! We’ve launched hyperherd.com, a comprehensive platform that takes social media tracking to the next level. Here’s why you should give it a try:
Centralized Dashboard: hyperherd.com provides a sleek, intuitive dashboard where you can view all your social media stats in one place. No more juggling between different platforms!
Historical Growth Insights: Visualize your follower growth over time with interactive graphs. Identify trends, understand what content resonates with your audience, and make data-driven decisions.
Competitive Analysis: Track not just your own accounts, but also those of your competitors or inspirations. Gain insights into their growth strategies and benchmark your performance.
Secure and Private: True to our roots, hyperherd.com never asks for your social media passwords. Your data remains yours, and we take privacy seriously.
Cross-Device Sync: Start tracking on your desktop and check your stats on your phone. hyperherd.com keeps everything in sync, so you’re always up to date.
Getting Started is Easy
Visit hyperherd.com and sign up for an account.
Download the HyperHerd Chrome extension.
Add your social media profile links to your dashboard.
Sit back and watch as HyperHerd starts tracking your growth!
By using hyperherd.com, you’re not just getting a tool; you’re joining a community of creators who are passionate about growth and data-driven success. Share your experiences, learn from others, and let’s grow together!
In the next post, I’ll dive deeper into some of the advanced features of hyperherd.com, such as our AI-powered content recommendations and the upcoming collaboration tools. I’ll also share some success stories from our early adopters.
Open Source and Community
Remember, the core of HyperHerd is open source! You can find the code for the Chrome extension on GitHub:
I welcome contributions, whether it’s adding support for new platforms, improving the follower extraction algorithms, or enhancing the user interface. And who knows? Outstanding contributors might just earn themselves some perks on hyperherd.com!
P.S. If you’re a creator looking to track your own social media growth, give HyperHerd a try and let me know what you think. Your feedback is invaluable for making the tool even better! Let’s herd those followers together! 🚀📈🐑
Herd yo people
Social Media
Followers
Chrome Extension
Hyperherd
Follower Tracking
In my previous post, I introduced HyperHerd, a tool I developed to track my social media followers across various platforms without compromising security. The initial version, built with AppleScript and Python, worked well but had several limitations.
In this post, I’ll dive into how I transformed HyperHerd from a Mac-only script into a cross-platform Chrome extension, solving the challenges of the first approach while adding new features.
The Limitations of AppleScript
Before I jump into the new version, let’s quickly revisit the problems with the original HyperHerd:
1. Mac-only: AppleScript limited us to macOS.
2. User interruption: The script took over the user’s machine while running.
3. Manual activation: Users had to start the script manually.
4. No historical data: I couldn’t track follower counts over time.
5. Offline issues: The script would break without an internet connection.
These limitations were significant, but they also provided clear objectives for the next iteration of HyperHerd. Let’s see how I tackled each one.
The Chrome Extension
The solution to most of our problems lay in browser extensions. Chrome extensions can run in the background, work across operating systems, and leverage the browser’s existing authentication. This seemed like the perfect fit for HyperHerd.
Here’s a high-level overview of how the new HyperHerd works:
1. Users add their profile links through a web interface.
2. The extension periodically visits each link in hidden tabs.
3. It captures the entire page as MHTML and parses it for follower counts.
4. The counts are stored locally and can be synced to a server.
Now, let’s break down how this solves our previous issues and introduces new capabilities.
1. Cross-Platform Compatibility
By moving to a Chrome extension, HyperHerd instantly became available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The core logic is written in JavaScript, which runs identically across these platforms. Here’s a snippet of how I create a new tab and capture its contents:
chrome.tabs.create({ url: link.link, active: false }, async (newTab) => {
// Wait for the page to load
setTimeout(async () => {
// Capture the entire page as MHTML
chrome.pageCapture.saveAsMHTML({ tabId: newTab.id }, async (blob) => {
let content = await blob.text();
// Parse the content for follower count
// …
});
}, 15000); // Wait 15 seconds for page load
});
2. Background Operation
Chrome extensions can run in the background, even when the window is hidden. This means HyperHerd can update follower counts without interrupting the user. I use Chrome’s alarm API to schedule these updates:
chrome.alarms.create("updateFollowers", {
periodInMinutes: 60 * 12, // Run every 12 hours
});
chrome.alarms.onAlarm.addListener((alarm) => {
if (alarm.name === "updateFollowers") {
runFollowerUpdate();
}
});
3. Automatic Updates
With the alarm system in place, users no longer need to manually start the follower count update. The extension takes care of this automatically at regular intervals.
4. Historical Data Tracking
One of the most exciting improvements is the ability to store historical follower counts. I use Chrome’s storage API to keep this data locally:
async function saveFollowerRecord(record) {
let { followerRecords } = await chrome.storage.local.get("followerRecords");
followerRecords.push(record);
await chrome.storage.local.set({ followerRecords });
}
This allows us to generate graphs and track growth over time, which was impossible with the previous version.
5. Improved Reliability
By running within the browser, HyperHerd can take advantage of Chrome’s existing login sessions. This means it can access pages that require authentication without additional setup. Additionally, if there’s no internet connection when an update is scheduled, the extension simply retries later instead of breaking.
New Feature: OCR-Free Parsing
In the AppleScript version, I relied heavily on OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract follower counts from screenshots. This was prone to errors and didn’t work well with varying screen resolutions and designs.
The Chrome extension takes a different approach. Instead of screenshots, I capture the entire page as MHTML (MIME HTML), which includes all the page’s resources. Then, I convert this to Markdown and use regular expressions to find the follower count. Here’s a simplified version of our extraction function:
async function extractFollowerCount(text, platform) {
let markdown = await convertToMarkdown(text);
const followerType =
{
youtube: "subscribers",
instagram: "followers", // … other platforms …
}[platform] || "followers";
const regex = new RegExp(`\\[[\\d,]+ ${followerType}\\]`, "i");
const match = markdown.match(regex);
if (match) {
return parseInt(match[0].replace(/[^\d]/g, ""), 10);
}
return -1; // Indicates failure to parse
}
This method is much more reliable than OCR and adapts well to changes in page layout.
New Feature: Multiple Account Support
The new HyperHerd supports multiple users, each with their own set of tracked profiles. This is achieved by associating all data with a unique tracker ID.
Each tracker can have its own update interval, profile links, and follower records. This lays the groundwork for potential future features like sharing trackers or comparing growth between accounts.
Challenges and Future Improvements
While the Chrome extension solves many of the initial problems, it’s not without its own challenges:
1. Extension permissions: Users need to approve quite broad permissions (access to all websites), which can be off-putting. I’mexploring ways to reduce this, possibly by using a whitelist.
2. Rate limiting: Some platforms might block or throttle requests if they come too frequently from the same IP. I’m considering adding random delays between updates to mitigate this.
3. Changing page structures: Websites frequently update their HTML structure, which can break our parsing. I’m looking into machine learning approaches that could adapt to these changes automatically.
4. Data portability: Currently, all data is stored locally in the browser. I’m working on a companion web app that would allow users to sync and visualize their data across devices.
The Future
Evolving HyperHerd from an AppleScript to a Chrome extension has been an exciting journey. We’ve solved the major limitations of the initial approach while introducing powerful new features like historical data tracking and multi-account support.
The core philosophy remains the same: provide a simple, secure way for creators to track their social media growth without sharing passwords or connecting accounts to third-party services. By leveraging browser technologies, we’ve made this vision a reality across all major desktop platforms.
If you’re intrigued by HyperHerd and want to experience its benefits firsthand, I have great news for you! We’ve launched hyperherd.com, a comprehensive platform that takes social media tracking to the next level. Here’s why you should give it a try:
Centralized Dashboard: hyperherd.com provides a sleek, intuitive dashboard where you can view all your social media stats in one place. No more juggling between different platforms!
Historical Growth Insights: Visualize your follower growth over time with interactive graphs. Identify trends, understand what content resonates with your audience, and make data-driven decisions.
Competitive Analysis: Track not just your own accounts, but also those of your competitors or inspirations. Gain insights into their growth strategies and benchmark your performance.
Secure and Private: True to our roots, hyperherd.com never asks for your social media passwords. Your data remains yours, and we take privacy seriously.
Cross-Device Sync: Start tracking on your desktop and check your stats on your phone. hyperherd.com keeps everything in sync, so you’re always up to date.
Getting Started is Easy
Visit hyperherd.com and sign up for an account.
Download the HyperHerd Chrome extension.
Add your social media profile links to your dashboard.
Sit back and watch as HyperHerd starts tracking your growth!
By using hyperherd.com, you’re not just getting a tool; you’re joining a community of creators who are passionate about growth and data-driven success. Share your experiences, learn from others, and let’s grow together!
In the next post, I’ll dive deeper into some of the advanced features of hyperherd.com, such as our AI-powered content recommendations and the upcoming collaboration tools. I’ll also share some success stories from our early adopters.
Open Source and Community
Remember, the core of HyperHerd is open source! You can find the code for the Chrome extension on GitHub:
I welcome contributions, whether it’s adding support for new platforms, improving the follower extraction algorithms, or enhancing the user interface. And who knows? Outstanding contributors might just earn themselves some perks on hyperherd.com!
P.S. If you’re a creator looking to track your own social media growth, give HyperHerd a try and let me know what you think. Your feedback is invaluable for making the tool even better! Let’s herd those followers together! 🚀📈🐑
Herd yo people
Social Media
Followers
Chrome Extension
Hyperherd
Follower Tracking
In my previous post, I introduced HyperHerd, a tool I developed to track my social media followers across various platforms without compromising security. The initial version, built with AppleScript and Python, worked well but had several limitations.
In this post, I’ll dive into how I transformed HyperHerd from a Mac-only script into a cross-platform Chrome extension, solving the challenges of the first approach while adding new features.
The Limitations of AppleScript
Before I jump into the new version, let’s quickly revisit the problems with the original HyperHerd:
1. Mac-only: AppleScript limited us to macOS.
2. User interruption: The script took over the user’s machine while running.
3. Manual activation: Users had to start the script manually.
4. No historical data: I couldn’t track follower counts over time.
5. Offline issues: The script would break without an internet connection.
These limitations were significant, but they also provided clear objectives for the next iteration of HyperHerd. Let’s see how I tackled each one.
The Chrome Extension
The solution to most of our problems lay in browser extensions. Chrome extensions can run in the background, work across operating systems, and leverage the browser’s existing authentication. This seemed like the perfect fit for HyperHerd.
Here’s a high-level overview of how the new HyperHerd works:
1. Users add their profile links through a web interface.
2. The extension periodically visits each link in hidden tabs.
3. It captures the entire page as MHTML and parses it for follower counts.
4. The counts are stored locally and can be synced to a server.
Now, let’s break down how this solves our previous issues and introduces new capabilities.
1. Cross-Platform Compatibility
By moving to a Chrome extension, HyperHerd instantly became available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The core logic is written in JavaScript, which runs identically across these platforms. Here’s a snippet of how I create a new tab and capture its contents:
chrome.tabs.create({ url: link.link, active: false }, async (newTab) => {
// Wait for the page to load
setTimeout(async () => {
// Capture the entire page as MHTML
chrome.pageCapture.saveAsMHTML({ tabId: newTab.id }, async (blob) => {
let content = await blob.text();
// Parse the content for follower count
// …
});
}, 15000); // Wait 15 seconds for page load
});
2. Background Operation
Chrome extensions can run in the background, even when the window is hidden. This means HyperHerd can update follower counts without interrupting the user. I use Chrome’s alarm API to schedule these updates:
chrome.alarms.create("updateFollowers", {
periodInMinutes: 60 * 12, // Run every 12 hours
});
chrome.alarms.onAlarm.addListener((alarm) => {
if (alarm.name === "updateFollowers") {
runFollowerUpdate();
}
});
3. Automatic Updates
With the alarm system in place, users no longer need to manually start the follower count update. The extension takes care of this automatically at regular intervals.
4. Historical Data Tracking
One of the most exciting improvements is the ability to store historical follower counts. I use Chrome’s storage API to keep this data locally:
async function saveFollowerRecord(record) {
let { followerRecords } = await chrome.storage.local.get("followerRecords");
followerRecords.push(record);
await chrome.storage.local.set({ followerRecords });
}
This allows us to generate graphs and track growth over time, which was impossible with the previous version.
5. Improved Reliability
By running within the browser, HyperHerd can take advantage of Chrome’s existing login sessions. This means it can access pages that require authentication without additional setup. Additionally, if there’s no internet connection when an update is scheduled, the extension simply retries later instead of breaking.
New Feature: OCR-Free Parsing
In the AppleScript version, I relied heavily on OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract follower counts from screenshots. This was prone to errors and didn’t work well with varying screen resolutions and designs.
The Chrome extension takes a different approach. Instead of screenshots, I capture the entire page as MHTML (MIME HTML), which includes all the page’s resources. Then, I convert this to Markdown and use regular expressions to find the follower count. Here’s a simplified version of our extraction function:
async function extractFollowerCount(text, platform) {
let markdown = await convertToMarkdown(text);
const followerType =
{
youtube: "subscribers",
instagram: "followers", // … other platforms …
}[platform] || "followers";
const regex = new RegExp(`\\[[\\d,]+ ${followerType}\\]`, "i");
const match = markdown.match(regex);
if (match) {
return parseInt(match[0].replace(/[^\d]/g, ""), 10);
}
return -1; // Indicates failure to parse
}
This method is much more reliable than OCR and adapts well to changes in page layout.
New Feature: Multiple Account Support
The new HyperHerd supports multiple users, each with their own set of tracked profiles. This is achieved by associating all data with a unique tracker ID.
Each tracker can have its own update interval, profile links, and follower records. This lays the groundwork for potential future features like sharing trackers or comparing growth between accounts.
Challenges and Future Improvements
While the Chrome extension solves many of the initial problems, it’s not without its own challenges:
1. Extension permissions: Users need to approve quite broad permissions (access to all websites), which can be off-putting. I’mexploring ways to reduce this, possibly by using a whitelist.
2. Rate limiting: Some platforms might block or throttle requests if they come too frequently from the same IP. I’m considering adding random delays between updates to mitigate this.
3. Changing page structures: Websites frequently update their HTML structure, which can break our parsing. I’m looking into machine learning approaches that could adapt to these changes automatically.
4. Data portability: Currently, all data is stored locally in the browser. I’m working on a companion web app that would allow users to sync and visualize their data across devices.
The Future
Evolving HyperHerd from an AppleScript to a Chrome extension has been an exciting journey. We’ve solved the major limitations of the initial approach while introducing powerful new features like historical data tracking and multi-account support.
The core philosophy remains the same: provide a simple, secure way for creators to track their social media growth without sharing passwords or connecting accounts to third-party services. By leveraging browser technologies, we’ve made this vision a reality across all major desktop platforms.
If you’re intrigued by HyperHerd and want to experience its benefits firsthand, I have great news for you! We’ve launched hyperherd.com, a comprehensive platform that takes social media tracking to the next level. Here’s why you should give it a try:
Centralized Dashboard: hyperherd.com provides a sleek, intuitive dashboard where you can view all your social media stats in one place. No more juggling between different platforms!
Historical Growth Insights: Visualize your follower growth over time with interactive graphs. Identify trends, understand what content resonates with your audience, and make data-driven decisions.
Competitive Analysis: Track not just your own accounts, but also those of your competitors or inspirations. Gain insights into their growth strategies and benchmark your performance.
Secure and Private: True to our roots, hyperherd.com never asks for your social media passwords. Your data remains yours, and we take privacy seriously.
Cross-Device Sync: Start tracking on your desktop and check your stats on your phone. hyperherd.com keeps everything in sync, so you’re always up to date.
Getting Started is Easy
Visit hyperherd.com and sign up for an account.
Download the HyperHerd Chrome extension.
Add your social media profile links to your dashboard.
Sit back and watch as HyperHerd starts tracking your growth!
By using hyperherd.com, you’re not just getting a tool; you’re joining a community of creators who are passionate about growth and data-driven success. Share your experiences, learn from others, and let’s grow together!
In the next post, I’ll dive deeper into some of the advanced features of hyperherd.com, such as our AI-powered content recommendations and the upcoming collaboration tools. I’ll also share some success stories from our early adopters.
Open Source and Community
Remember, the core of HyperHerd is open source! You can find the code for the Chrome extension on GitHub:
I welcome contributions, whether it’s adding support for new platforms, improving the follower extraction algorithms, or enhancing the user interface. And who knows? Outstanding contributors might just earn themselves some perks on hyperherd.com!
P.S. If you’re a creator looking to track your own social media growth, give HyperHerd a try and let me know what you think. Your feedback is invaluable for making the tool even better! Let’s herd those followers together! 🚀📈🐑
Herd yo people
Social Media
Followers
Chrome Extension
Hyperherd
Follower Tracking
Other Projects
built with ❤️ by Jack Blair on a very late night
built with ❤️ by Jack Blair on a very late night
built with ❤️ by Jack Blair on a very late night
Jack Blair
Jack Blair
Jack Blair
Jack Blair