Facebook’s privacy settings allow users to control who can see their posts and information. By default, posts are visible to all of your Facebook friends. However, there are ways to customize your settings to limit the visibility of your posts to a smaller group or even just yourself.
Who can see my Facebook posts by default?
When you first create a Facebook account and make posts, the default audience for your posts is set to “Friends.” This means that all of your Facebook friends will be able to see any posts you share on your timeline.
The “Friends” setting allows your posts to be visible to:
- Anyone who is a Facebook friend
- Friends of your Facebook friends, unless you limit the audience
So by default, your posts can be seen by all of your Facebook friends as well as friends of your friends. This can end up being a large audience if you have a lot of Facebook friends or friends with large networks themselves.
Who counts as a Facebook friend?
On Facebook, a “friend” includes:
- People you’ve added as friends who have confirmed your friend request
- Friends who you’ve confirmed friend requests from
- Anyone you haven’t specifically blocked from seeing your profile or posts
So keep in mind that by default, confirmed friends as well as pending friend requests you’ve sent or received can all see your posts set to the “Friends” audience.
Can I limit who sees my posts?
Yes, you can customize the audience for your Facebook posts in your settings. There are a few options:
| Audience | Who Can See Posts |
|---|---|
| Public | Anyone on or off Facebook |
| Friends | Your Facebook friends and their friends |
| Friends except… | Your friends except people or lists you exclude |
| Specific friends | Only friends you select individually |
| Only me | Only you |
These options allow you to fine tune the audience for your posts so not all of your Facebook friends see every post.
Making posts visible to some friends but not others
The “Friends except…” setting is useful if you want to exclude specific people from seeing certain posts. For example, you could exclude work colleagues so they don’t see your non-work related posts.
You can also create custom lists of friends, like “Close friends” or “Family,” and then only share posts with those specific lists.
Setting posts to be visible to only you
The “Only me” setting allows you to create private posts only you can see. This is useful for making personal notes or reminders to yourself. Posts set to “Only me” will not show up in any of your friends’ News Feeds.
How do I edit the audience for my posts?
You can edit the audience for your posts in your Facebook settings:
- Go to your Facebook profile
- Click on the down arrow in the top right and select “Settings”
- Click on “Privacy” in the left menu
- Go to “Your activity” > “Activity log and tags”
- Click “Limit past posts”
From here you can change the audience of your previous posts to be more limited. You can also change the default audience for your future posts.
Changing settings for individual posts
You can also edit the privacy settings for individual Facebook posts:
- Go to the post you want to edit
- Click the three dots in the top right corner
- Select “Edit post”
- Change the audience in the bottom left corner
- Click “Confirm” to save the changes
This allows you to modify the visibility of specific posts without changing your overall default settings.
What about liking and commenting?
The audience settings also apply to who can see that you liked or commented on a post:
- If you like or comment on a post visible to Friends, your friend and their friends will see it
- If you like or comment on a Friends Only post, only those friends can see your activity
- If you like or comment on a Public post, anyone can see it
So before liking or commenting, always check the original post’s audience to see who else will be able to see your interaction with that post.
What about tagged posts?
Getting tagged in a post can also make it visible to an audience you didn’t intend:
- If a friend tags you in a Friends only post, it may expose the post to your other friends
- If a friend tags you in a Public post, anyone can see it
To prevent unwanted tags, you can review tags before friends can tag you in Posts under “Timeline and Tagging” settings.
Can I see who viewed my post?
No, Facebook does not let you see who specifically viewed your posts and profile. You can only see the total number of views for a post.
Facebook does this to protect user privacy and prevent profiling. Knowing exactly who viewed your post could be used to target specific people.
Should I be concerned about privacy?
It’s always smart to be cautious about what personal information you share online. Consider these tips:
- Review your privacy settings regularly and when adding new friends
- Use friend lists to share only with trusted friends and family
- Customize post audiences instead of always defaulting to Friends
- Limit tags from others that may share unintended posts
- Delete or hide old posts you may no longer want public
Enabling privacy features like two-factor authentication can also help secure your account from being accessed by others.
Conclusion
By default, your Facebook posts are visible to all of your Facebook friends as well as friends of your friends. However, you can customize the audience for each of your posts to limit them to smaller groups or even just yourself.
Adjusting your privacy settings, creating friend lists, and reviewing tags can help you control who sees your Facebook activity. While Facebook doesn’t show exactly who views your posts, being mindful of what you share publicly is always a good idea.
With the right settings, you can feel comfortable sharing posts with your chosen audiences on Facebook without everything being public.