Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 2.9 billion monthly active users as of 2021. With so many people using Facebook, there are naturally concerns around privacy and how much of your online activity is visible to Facebook and other users.
One common question is whether Facebook can see who is viewing your profile or stalking you. The short answer is no, Facebook cannot see who specifically views your profile or posts. However, it does collect some data on how many people viewed your content.
Does Facebook track profile views?
Facebook does not track the identity of who views your profile. When you visit someone’s profile, it does not notify them or show your name or profile information. You remain anonymous as a viewer.
Facebook previously had a feature called “View As” that allowed users to see what their profile looked like to others. This gave some sense of who visited your page. However, this feature was removed in 2019 after a security breach exposed the feature was vulnerable to hacking.
Some apps and services claim to tell you who viewed your Facebook profile, but this is not actually possible. Facebook’s terms prohibit collecting data to provide insights on profile visitors. Any service claiming to show your stalkers is likely a scam.
Can Facebook track the number of profile views?
While Facebook cannot identify individual profile visitors, it does collect aggregated data on how many times a user’s profile is viewed. Profile view data is available under the “View As” section of your profile settings.
Here, you can see metrics for week-by-week changes in how many people viewed your profile. It tracks views from people who are not your friends and people who are your friends on Facebook.
Facebook also shows stats on how many people viewed your posts. On a post, you can click on the viewers link to see the total number of views.
The view counts come from Facebook’s internal analytics. It serves as a useful metric for gauging user engagement and reach. However, the exact individuals who viewed your content remain private.
Does the viewer get notified if you screenshot their profile?
No, Facebook does not notify or alert someone if you take a screenshot of their profile or any part of it. You are free to screenshot profiles, photos, posts, or any other content.
The person whose page you screenshot has no indication it happened. The screenshot only saves to your own device or cloud storage if you uploaded it.
This applies for all kinds of content on Facebook – profiles, groups, pages, or news feed posts. You can take screenshots without the subject knowing.
Can Facebook admins see who viewed a Facebook page?
Page admins have access to some analytics on their Facebook page’s visitors and activity. However, they cannot see the names or profiles of individual visitors.
Specifically, page admins can see data under the “People” section, including:
- Number of page views per day
- Number of new page likes per day
- Age and gender demographics of page viewers
- Top cities and countries viewers are from
The page view metrics are helpful for understanding user engagement and tracking growth over time. But the data remains anonymized – page admins cannot identify their visitors.
Can Facebook see who views Stories?
For Facebook Stories, the viewership is also anonymous to the person who posted it. You can see the total list of people who viewed your Story, but not the order they viewed it in.
When you share a Story, you select people to share it with – friends, close friends, or public. Only the categories of viewers are visible, not specific people.
Facebook Stories also disappears after 24 hours. So any insights into viewers is time-limited before the content deletes.
Can Facebook see who looked at your friends list?
There is no way for Facebook to track who looks at your friends list specifically. Your list of friends is visible to anyone who visits your profile, but the identity of those visitors is not tracked or shown to you.
Some misconceptions claim that Facebook shows who viewed your friends list in order of most to least recent viewer. But this is not a verified Facebook feature.
You may notice your friends list appears reorderd with some people at the top when you view it. But this is based on Facebook’s algorithms to highlight friends you interact with most.
Can Facebook see who viewed your photos?
Facebook gives users aggregated data on how many times a photo they posted was viewed. But it does not give the names or any way to identify who viewed it.
When you upload photos to Facebook, it tracks lifetime views on each photo. You can see this by clicking on the photo and getting stats under “Seen by.”
The view count includes all views from people who can access the photo. For a public photo, this aggregates all views by anyone on or off Facebook. For friends-only photos, it tracks views by your friends.
Can Facebook see who viewed your videos?
As with photos, Facebook provides statistics on how many times a video was viewed but not the identities of who watched it. The video viewer count combines views from all platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more.
Video views are tracked in your video library under the “Videos” tab. Click on a video to see metrics like total views, average percentage watched, and comments.
One important caveat is that autoplaying videos may start playing without the viewer actively clicking them. So high view counts don’t necessarily mean more people deliberately watched it.
Can admins see who viewed Facebook Group content?
For Facebook Groups, the admins have access to some analytics but not information on individual members viewing content.
Group Insights show metrics like member growth, post reach, and engagement over time. But the insights focus on overall performance, not specific readers.
Group members remain anonymous if they simply view posts or comments. Even the group admin cannot see who is lurking or viewing silently without interacting.
Who can see the people who reacted to a Facebook post?
When other users react to a Facebook post with options like Like, Love, Care, etc, those interactions are visible to anyone who can see the post.
The names and reactions of people who interacted show up publicly below the post. Anybody who views the post can see the list of reactors.
However, viewers of the post remain anonymous and unseen. Only those leaving reactions reveal their identity.
Can Facebook tell if you screenshot a post?
Facebook’s privacy terms prohibit them from tracking if you screenshot content. You can freely take screenshots of posts, profiles, images, or other content.
The screenshot will save only to your own device storage. Neither Facebook nor the person who posted the original content is notified. You can screenshot stealthily without detection.
Third-party apps that claim to notify people of screenshots are not permitted on Facebook and Instagram. They likely violate platform policies by tracking unauthorized data.
Does Facebook notify someone if you save their photo?
If you save a photo from Facebook to your device’s storage or an app like Pinterest, the original poster is not notified. Downloading or saving photos happens secretly.
Even if you share a photo to another platform after saving it, Facebook does not track where it ends up. Its policies prohibit tracking data external to its walled garden.
Of course, the photo may be visibly reposted somewhere under your name. But the mere act of downloading itself is invisible to the original uploader.
Can Facebook see who viewed your Marketplace listings?
Facebook Marketplace does not share information on who specifically views or clicks on your item listings. The views remain anonymous.
As a seller, you can access metrics on how many times an item was viewed. But there is no data on the identities of who saw it.
Buyers can browse Marketplace privately without sellers knowing they engaged with the listing. Their profile information and activity is not visible to anyone but themselves.
Does Facebook show if you creep on someone’s profile?
Viewing someone’s Facebook profile leaves no public trace or notification. Your browsing of other profiles is completely anonymous to that user.
You can visit people’s profiles, photos, friends, and posts without revealing your digital tracks. Facebook does not notify them or show your name for browsing their content.
No notification or record shows in your profile activity either. Your profile visiting habits stay private to yourself unless you interact through likes, comments, etc.
Can Facebook admins see who left a Facebook Group?
When a member leaves a private Facebook Group, the admins are notified that someone left but not specifically who it was.
The notification simply states “[Person’s name] left the group” without the person’s name revealed. Their identity remains anonymous.
Group admins can view a list of current joined members but not a log of who previously left. Unless they know members personally, they cannot confirm who exited.
Conclusion
In summary, Facebook takes measures to protect user privacy from excessive tracking. While it collects profile viewing data in aggregate, individual identities and browsing habits largely stay private.
Specific individuals who view your content are anonymous to you as the poster. Facebook rules prohibit apps from tracking unauthorized data like stalkers.
Of course, any interactions like reacting to posts or direct messaging reveal both parties to each other. But merely viewing profiles, photos, friends lists, and other content leaves no trace to the original poster.