Create social media connection

Action ID
actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION
Description

Add a friend, follow, or otherwise create a social connection with a person, organization, or other entity. First, determine the person or organization by name and description using the socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name intent parameter and (if available) the socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription intent parameter. The disambiguating description parameter uses supported text field values and can contain useful information for identifying common entities, such as a profile, podcast, or hashtag. Use the default entity type for the app if this parameter isn't populated.

Then, determine the type of social media connection using the socialMediaConnection.relationship intent parameter, if available.

Your app must confirm with the user before creating a connection.

Locale support

Functionality Locales
Preview creation using App Actions test tool en-US
User invocation from Google Assistant en-US

Example queries

The following fields represent essential information that users often provide in queries that trigger this built-in intent:

socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name

Other supported fields

The following fields represent information that users often provide to disambiguate their needs or otherwise improve their results:

socialMediaConnection.@type
socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.@type
socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription
socialMediaConnection.relationship

Supported text values by field





Inventory availability by field



Sample XML files

For information about the actions.xml schema, see Create actions.xml. For information about the shortcuts.xml schema, see Create shorcuts.xml.

Handle BII parameters

shortcuts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample shortcuts.xml -->
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <capability android:name="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
    <intent
      android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
      android:targetPackage="YOUR_UNIQUE_APPLICATION_ID"
      android:targetClass="YOUR_TARGET_CLASS">
      <!-- Eg. relationship = "Follow" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.relationship"
        android:key="relationship"/>
      <!-- Eg. name = "John Doe" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name"
        android:key="name"/>
      <!-- Eg. disambiguatingDescription = "UserAccount" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription"
        android:key="disambiguatingDescription"/>
    </intent>
  </capability>
</shortcuts>

actions.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
<actions>
  <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://custom-deeplink{?relationship,name,disambiguatingDescription}">
      <!-- e.g. relationship = "Follow" -->
      <!-- (Optional) Require a field eg.relationship for fulfillment with required="true" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="relationship" intentParameter="socialMediaConnection.relationship" required="true" />
      <!-- e.g. name = "John Doe" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="name" intentParameter="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name" />
      <!-- e.g. disambiguatingDescription = "UserAccount" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="disambiguatingDescription" intentParameter="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription" />
    </fulfillment>

    <!-- Provide a fallback fulfillment with no required parameters. For example, to your app search or router deeplink -->
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink" />
  </action>
</actions>

Use inline inventory

shortcuts.xml

socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription is an intent parameter that supports inline inventory. By defining a <shortcut> for socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription, you can uniquely identify entities that are of interest to your app or restrict fulfillment to the set of supported entities.

In the following example, when the user query matches the disambiguatingDescription_one shortcut, Assistant provides the associated shorcut identifier, ID_ONE, as the URL parameter disambiguatingDescription to fulfillment.

If there is no inventory match, the text value received in the query for socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription is passed as-is.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample shortcuts.xml -->
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <capability android:name="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
    <intent
      android:targetPackage="YOUR_UNIQUE_APPLICATION_ID"
      android:targetClass="YOUR_TARGET_CLASS">
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.relationship"
        android:key="relationship"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name"
        android:key="name"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription"
        android:key="disambiguatingDescription"/>
    </intent>
    </capability>
    <!-- Short and long labels must be @string resource. -->
    <shortcut
      android:shortcutId="ID_ONE"
      android:shortcutShortLabel="@string/shortcut_short_label"
      android:shortcutLongLabel="@string/shortcut_long_label">
      <capability-binding android:key="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
        <parameter-binding
          android:value="disambiguatingDescription"
          android:key="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription"/>
      </capability-binding>
    </shortcut>
</shortcuts>

actions.xml

socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription is an intent parameter that supports inline inventory. By defining an <entity-set> for socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription, you can uniquely identify entities that are of interest to your app or restrict fulfillment to the set of supported entities.

In the following example, when the user query matches the disambiguatingDescription_one entity, Assistant provides the associated identifier, ID_ONE, as the URL parameter disambiguatingDescription to fulfillment.

If there is no inventory match, the text value received in the query for socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription is passed as-is.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
<actions>
  <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink{?disambiguatingDescription}" >
      <!-- disambiguatingDescription = "ID_ONE" or "ID_TWO"  -->
      <!-- If no inventory match, disambiguatingDescription is a text value, such as "UserAccount" -->
      <!-- (Optional) Use entityMatchRequired="true" to require inventory match for fulfillment -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="disambiguatingDescription" intentParameter="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription" />
    </fulfillment>

    <!-- Define parameters with inventories here -->
    <parameter name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription">
      <entity-set-reference entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet"/>
    </parameter>
  </action>

  <entity-set entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet">
  <!-- Provide an identifier per entity -->
    <entity identifier="ID_ONE" name="disambiguatingDescription_one" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_one_synonyms"/>
    <entity identifier="ID_TWO" name="disambiguatingDescription_two" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_two_synonyms"/>
  </entity-set>
</actions>

The url attribute associated with the entity can be used to determine the fulfillment URL if there is an inventory match. In the following example, when the user query matches the disambiguatingDescription_one entity, Assistant provides myapp://deeplink/one as the fulfillment URL.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
  <actions>
    <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
      <!-- Use url from inventory match for deep link fulfillment -->
      <fulfillment urlTemplate="{@url}" />

      <!-- Provide a fallback fulfillment with no required parameters. For example, to your app search or router deeplink -->
      <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink" />

      <!-- Define parameters with inventories here -->
      <parameter name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription">
        <entity-set-reference entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet"/>
      </parameter>
    </action>

    <entity-set entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet">
      <!-- Provide a URL per entity -->
      <entity url="myapp://deeplink/one" name="disambiguatingDescription_one" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_one_synonyms"/>
      <entity url="myapp://deeplink/two" name="disambiguatingDescription_two" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_two_synonyms"/>
    </entity-set>
  </actions>

Use web inventory

socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name is a field that supports web inventory. In the following example, Google Assistant performs a web search for the user query and determines the fulfillment URL. Assistant filters for search results that match the provided urlFilter value of https://www.mywebsite.com/link1/.*.

shortcuts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample shortcuts.xml -->
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <capability android:name="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
    <intent
      android:targetPackage="YOUR_UNIQUE_APPLICATION_ID"
      android:targetClass="YOUR_TARGET_CLASS">
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.relationship"
        android:key="relationship"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name"
        android:key="name"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.disambiguatingDescription"
        android:key="disambiguatingDescription"/>
    </intent>
  </capability>
</shortcuts>

actions.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
<actions>
  <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_CONNECTION">
    <!-- Use URL from entity match for deep link fulfillment -->
    <!-- Example: url = 'https://www.mywebsite.com/link1/item1' -->
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="{@url}" />

    <!-- Provide a fallback fulfillment with no required parameters. For example, to your app search or router deeplink -->
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink" />

    <!-- Define parameters with web inventories using urlFilter -->
    <parameter name="socialMediaConnection.connectedEntity.name">
      <entity-set-reference urlFilter="https://www.mywebsite.com/link1/.*" />"/>
    </parameter>
  </action>
</actions>

JSON-LD sample

The following JSON-LD sample provides some example values that you can use in the App Actions test tool:

{
  "@context": "http://schema.googleapis.com",
  "@type": "SocialMediaConnection",
  "connectedEntity": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "disambiguatingDescription": "UserAccount",
    "name": "John Doe"
  },
  "relationship": "Follow"
}