Facebook stars are a feature that allows users to showcase their popularity and influence on the platform. Users can earn stars by hitting certain thresholds for number of followers, reactions, comments, and shares on their posts. The exact requirements to earn stars have changed over time as Facebook has updated the program. Here is a quick look at the current requirements and how you can tell if you are eligible for stars on Facebook.
What are Facebook stars?
Facebook stars appear next to a user’s name and provide a visual indicator of their influence on the platform. Stars range from 1 star (lowest) to 5 stars (highest). The more stars you have, the more popular your account is deemed to be based on your number of followers and engagement on your posts.
Stars first launched in 2016 as a replacement for Facebook’s “most popular” classification. At that time, 1 star was awarded at 10,000 followers, 2 stars at 100,000 followers, and so on up to 5 stars at 10 million followers. Since then, Facebook has shifted to calculate stars based more on overall engagement rather than just follower count.
Requirements for earning Facebook stars
While the exact formulas are proprietary, Facebook has provided some guidance on what factors into calculating stars. In general, stars are now awarded based on your overall engagement and interaction on your posts rather than just your follower count. The more likes, reactions, comments, and shares you receive, the more likely you are to earn stars.
Facebook has not provided the specific thresholds for each star level. However, based on user reports, the general requirements appear to be:
- 1 star: Tens of thousands of followers and hundreds to thousands of engagement on posts
- 2 stars: Hundreds of thousands of followers and tens of thousands of engagement
- 3 stars: Millions of followers and hundreds of thousands of engagement
- 4 stars: Tens of millions of followers and millions of engagement
- 5 stars: Hundreds of millions of followers and tens of millions of engagement
These thresholds are not official and can fluctuate over time as Facebook recalibrates the algorithm. But in general, the scale of your audience and engagement numbers needed grows exponentially with each star level.
How to check if you have stars on Facebook
Checking whether you have stars on Facebook is easy:
- Go to your Facebook profile
- Look next to your name at the top of your profile
- If you see a filled-in star icon, you have stars. More filled-in stars means a higher star rating.
You can also check your star rating when you make a post. There will be a star icon next to your name at the top of the post:
If you don’t see any filled-in star icons, unfortunately you do not currently meet the requirements for stars on Facebook.
Tips for earning stars on Facebook
If you want to earn stars but don’t meet the thresholds yet, here are some tips:
- Post engaging content regularly that gets a lot of reactions, comments, and shares organically
- Go live and generate comments and viewers
- Build your follower count by networking and engaging with others
- Run promotions and contests to increase followers and engagement
- Advertise to expand your reach and find new potential followers
- Analyze your best performing post types and do more of those
- Engage with followers by responding to comments and messages
The key is posting content that resonates with your audience and generates a high volume of authentic engagement. While paid ads can help expand your reach, the engagement needs to be organic to count towards stars.
Benefits of having Facebook stars
Some of the benefits of having stars on Facebook include:
- Prestige and influence – Stars showcase that you have built a large, engaged audience.
- Priority ranking – Posts from profiles with stars may be more likely to be surfaced by the algorithm.
- Brand partnerships – Stars can attract sponsorships from brands wanting to tap into your audience.
- Monetization eligibility – Certain monetization programs require star thresholds.
- Trust and authority – Followers view star accounts as established influencers.
While stars have no direct impact on visibility or reach, they signal to the platform your content is resonating with your audience. This authority can have indirect benefits for distribution and monetization opportunities.
Retaining Facebook stars
Once earned, stars do not automatically disappear. However, Facebook likely performs periodic reassessments to ensure accounts still meet the minimum engagement levels. To retain your stars, keep posting engaging content and interacting with your audience consistently.
Significant drops in followers or engagement levels may cause you to lose stars. But minor fluctuations likely won’t immediately impact your star rating.
Stars provide helpful context on the size and engagement levels of Facebook accounts. While the specific requirements are not disclosed, increasing authentic engagement and community-building will put you on the path towards earning stars.
Conclusion
Earning stars on Facebook requires building a large, highly engaged audience. Stars are awarded based on factors like follower count, reactions, comments, and shares. While the exact thresholds are unknown, each star level generally requires an order of magnitude more reach and engagement. Posting content your audience responds to and interacting with your community can help you earn stars organically. Stars signal influence and authority on Facebook, which can unlock benefits like brand partnerships. But the biggest reward is having an audience that genuinely connects with your content.