What Is WP Social Media Gallery?

WP Social Media Gallery is a self-hosted WordPress gallery plugin with grid, masonry, mosaic layouts, a lightbox, and social feeds. Data stays on your server. You build galleries in a visual Gallery Builder, choose layouts and display options, then embed them anywhere with a shortcode or Gutenberg block. The free version covers WordPress media library galleries; social sources and advanced layouts are included with Pro.

Supported Gallery Types

The plugin registers seven gallery types. The free WP Media type pulls images directly from your WordPress media library. Six social sources — Instagram, Dribbble, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter — connect through OAuth or API keys and refresh on a schedule. A Google type appears in the builder, but there is no working Google provider, so it does not fetch photos.

• WP Media: Images from your media library. Free and always available.
• Instagram (Pro): User or hashtag feeds via OAuth.
• Dribbble (Pro): Player or user shots via API key.
• TikTok (Pro): User videos via OAuth.
• YouTube (Pro): Channel or playlist via API key.
• Facebook (Pro): Page albums via OAuth.
• Twitter (Pro): User tweets via OAuth.

Each social source has its own builder step for selecting accounts, applying filters, and setting fetch limits.

Gallery Layouts

Every gallery uses one of four base layouts. Automatic lets the plugin choose the best fit for the source. Grid arranges images in equal-sized cells. Masonry creates a Pinterest-style staggered flow. Mosaic places images across variable-width tiles for a more dynamic composition. Each layout supports configurable columns, spacing, and border radius.

• Automatic: The plugin selects the optimal layout for the source.
• Grid: Equal-sized cells in a regular matrix.
• Masonry: Staggered rows that pack images tightly.
• Mosaic: Variable-width tiles across a dynamic grid.

Pro layouts add hover reveal, polaroid, square, blogroll, bento box, and more. The free layouts cover most common use cases.

Lightbox and Image Display

The built-in lightbox opens images in an overlay with keyboard navigation and touch swipe support. You can enable captions drawn from attachment titles, captions, or alt text. EXIF data — camera model, shutter speed, aperture, ISO — appears in a dedicated panel inside the lightbox.

• Lightbox navigation: Keyboard arrows, swipe, and on-screen controls.
• Captions: Drawn from attachment title, caption, or alt text.
• EXIF panel: Camera model, shutter speed, aperture, ISO.
• Image animation: Fade-in or other transitions on load.
• Lazy loading: Images load as they enter the viewport.
• Right-click protection: Discourages casual image theft.

Lightbox thumbnails and comments are Pro features.

Embedding Galleries

Place a gallery anywhere WordPress accepts content. The shortcode accepts a gallery ID and optional extra attributes. Paste it into any post, page, or widget area.

• Shortcode: [wp_social_media_gallery id="1"] renders the gallery markup. Add return="array" to get data instead of markup, or attributes to pass extra HTML attributes to the wrapper.
• Gutenberg block: The WP Social Media Gallery block inserts the same gallery through the block editor with a live preview.

The block registers under the WP Social Media Gallery category in the inserter. The plugin also exposes a REST API at the ccpwpsmg/v1 namespace for headless or custom integrations.

Settings and Customisation

Global defaults live under WP Social Media Gallery > Settings, organized into seven tabs. Global controls gallery view, sorting, captions, image animation, and protection. Appearance sets the primary accent color and preloader. Advanced holds custom CSS, JavaScript, and uninstall behaviour. The remaining tabs cover integrations, source connections, tools, and user access.

• Global: Gallery view, sorting, captions, animation, protection.
• Appearance: Primary color, preloader, light/dark theme.
• Advanced: Custom CSS, custom JS, delete data on uninstall.
• Integrations: Third-party service connections.
• Source: Social account credentials and connections (Pro).
• Tools: Export, import, and reset settings.
• User Access: Gallery-level permissions (Pro).

Per-gallery overrides are set in the Gallery Builder’s Configuration step, so you can change columns, spacing, or style for a single gallery without touching global defaults.

Analytics and Insights

The plugin records five event types to its own database tables: gallery view, image view, lightbox open, image click, and download. You can read summary data from the admin or query the raw log through the REST API. There is no third-party analytics dependency.

• gallery_view: Recorded when a gallery renders on the page.
• image_view: Recorded when an image enters the viewport.
• lightbox_open: Recorded when the lightbox opens.
• image_click: Recorded when a visitor clicks an image.
• download: Recorded when a visitor downloads an image.

Analytics tables are created on activation and maintained by a scheduled cron job.

Social Media Sources

The free version covers the WP Media source only. Every social source requires Pro. Each social source connects through OAuth or API keys stored encrypted in the WordPress database. Tokens refresh automatically, and you can manage all connections from the Source tab in Settings or from the Gallery Builder.

• Connection flow: Authorize the app, pick accounts, apply filters.
• Credential store: Encrypted in wp_ccpwpsmg_galleries settings.
• Auto-refresh: Tokens renew before expiry.
• Filters: Limit results by date, media type, or search term.

Learn how to connect a social account to see the OAuth flow in detail.

Privacy and Data Ownership

All gallery data, images, and settings live in your WordPress database. The plugin does not send visitor behaviour to external services. Opt-in integrations such as social OAuth store only the tokens needed to fetch media; they do not track viewer clicks, views, or identity.

• Self-hosted: Images and config stay on your server.
• No tracking pixels: Visitor analytics are local only.
• Encrypted credentials: Social API keys and tokens are redacted from frontend config.
• Uninstall cleanup: Optional deletion of all plugin data on uninstall.

What Pro Adds

The free version covers WP Media galleries with the four free layouts, the lightbox, EXIF, captions, and global settings. A Pro license unlocks all six social sources, additional gallery layouts, lightbox thumbnails and comments, user access restrictions, email notifications, and the connections REST API.

• Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Dribbble sources
• Hover reveal, polaroid, square, blogroll, bento box, and more layouts
• Lightbox thumbnails strip and visitor comments
• Gallery-level user access and password protection
• Email notification templates for new media

Build your first gallery with the WP Media source, then explore the social sources when you are ready.