Profiles
Read the profile
Open the profile in a browser that isn't signed in to the platform, so you see what the public sees. Note the display name, bio, links out, follower counts, account type (business, verified, private) and the most recent posts. Many platforms limit what they show signed-out visitors and block automated requests from servers, so a careful manual read is often the most reliable first step.
For media-heavy profiles, gallery-dl lists the posts and their metadata without downloading anything; see
media.
The same person elsewhere
Profiles link to each other through bios, link-in-bio pages and repeated handles. Check the handle on other networks:
ot run osintverse-community/sherlock --username instagramand follow the username playbook to verify matches.
What to record
For each profile: the URL, the numeric user ID when available (it survives a rename, the handle doesn't), the display name and bio as they were on the date you looked, and the links out.
Next: media.