No, you cannot see who has viewed your Facebook stories if you are not friends with them on Facebook. Facebook stories are considered more private than regular posts, and viewers are only visible to your friends list and followers. There is no way to see the view count or list of viewers for your stories if they are not your Facebook friends.
Why You Can’t See Story Views From Non-Friends
There are a few reasons why Facebook limits story view visibility to only friends and followers:
- Privacy – Stories are meant to be more personal, intimate sharing. By default, Facebook makes them viewable only to your friends list connections to maintain privacy.
- Limit Reach – Facebook wants you to connect with viewers. By limiting views to friends only, it encourages users to connect and become friends to see each other’s stories.
- Promote Connections – Similarly, restricting views encourages more friend connections and engagement among current friends.
- Reduce Spam – Open stories can lead to more spam views, bots, and other fake views. Requiring a connection cuts down on unwanted views.
So in summary, the friends-only restriction promotes real engagement, privacy, and limits reach just to your intended audience. It prevents stories from being viewable by random strangers or fake accounts online.
Who Can View Your Facebook Stories
If someone is not your Facebook friend, they will not be able to see your story at all. It will not appear on your profile or be visible anywhere else to non-friends.
The only people who can view your Facebook stories include:
- Facebook friends – Any current friends on your friends list.
- Followers – If you have a public figure page with followers, they can also view.
- Page admins – If you post to a Facebook page, any admin of that page can see the story.
So the viewer list is limited only to friends and followers. There is no way for anyone else on Facebook to access your stories.
How To See Views of Your Facebook Stories
While non-friends cannot see your story at all, you can still view the number of views and list of viewing friends like this:
- Go to your Facebook profile page and tap on your own story.
- Tap on the viewers list icon in the lower left under your story.
- This will show you the total number of viewers and list which friends have viewed the story.
This viewer list will only include your friends though. You cannot see any views, names, or viewer information for people who are not friends with you.
Ways To Share Stories With Non-Friends
If you want to share a story with people who are not your Facebook friends, you have a couple options:
Make Your Profile Public
You can change your profile privacy settings to be public. This will allow anyone to view your stories without friending you first. To do this:
- Go to your profile and click the three dots in the top right.
- Select Settings & Privacy then Settings.
- Click on Privacy and toggle Public to switch your profile to public.
With a public profile, anyone can see your stories. But this also makes everything else public too.
Share Story URL
When you post a story, you can then copy the URL and share that with non-friends. When they visit the URL, they’ll be able to view that specific story.
To get the story URL:
- Click on your own story bubble from your profile.
- Copy the URL from the address bar.
- Paste this link to anyone you want to view that story.
The downside is it only works for that one story, and you need to manually copy and share the URL each time.
Use a Facebook Page
If you have a Facebook page, you can post there and change the audience to public. Anyone will be able to view stories published to a public page, without needing to friend you.
The steps would be:
- Create or use an existing Facebook page you manage.
- Post your story directly to that page feed.
- Change the page’s audience to Public.
With the page visibility set to public, stories will be visible to anyone even if they do not follow your page. This lets you share more widely.
Other Facebook Story Settings
In addition to the viewer list, there are some other story settings you can adjust:
- Allow Resharing – Turn this on to let others share your story to their own story feed.
- Message Replies – Let friends reply via messenger instead of commenting.
- Story Duration – Change how long it’s available (24 hours default).
- Notifications – Manage notifications you receive for story views and messages.
Adjust based on how public or private you want the story. But none of these settings will allow viewability by non-friends.
Using Other Networks to Share Widely
If your goal is simply to share a story more publicly beyond just your Facebook friends, you have some other options:
- Instagram – Instagram stories are separate and can be seen by all followers.
- Twitter – Post the story as a series of tweets for wider visibility.
- YouTube – Upload as a video for completely public access if desired.
These networks allow you to share more openly and publicly beyond just direct Facebook friends. You can cross-post the same story for wider visibility if needed.
Summary
To summarize the key points:
- You cannot see who viewed your Facebook story if they are not friends with you.
- Only direct friends and followers can access your Facebook stories.
- You can view your own story’s viewer list, but it will only include friends.
- To share a story more publicly, post to a page, share the URL, or use other networks.
- Facebook limits views to friends only for privacy, limiting reach, and reducing spam.
Facebook stories are designed for private, friends-only sharing. While this limits the reach, it also maintains privacy and connections among your network. If you need to share more openly, use a page or other social networks instead to extend beyond just your Facebook friends.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone who removed me as a friend still view my story?
No, once someone removes you as a friend on Facebook, they can no longer see your profile information including your stories. Only current friends have access.
Can I prevent specific friends from seeing my story?
Yes, you can block particular friends from seeing your story. Go to your story privacy settings and choose to customize your audience. Here you can exclude specific friends from viewing that story.
If I share my story URL publicly, can anyone see it?
Yes, if you copy the URL of a specific story and share it somewhere public, anyone with that link can view the story. Sharing the URL makes that one story accessible to non-friends.
Can I see the exact date and time someone viewed my story?
No, Facebook only shows you the list of friends who have viewed your story. It does not give details like the exact view date/time for privacy reasons.
If I download my Facebook data, will it include story viewer information?
No, your Facebook data archive only includes your posts, messages, photos etc. It does not give you information on story views or viewers. That data remains private.
Can page admins see who viewed a story posted to a page?
Yes, page admins can see more detailed analytics on any story posted to that page, including number of views and demographic data on the viewers.
Conclusion
Facebook limits story visibility to friends and followers only by design. This encourages more connections on the platform while maintaining privacy. If you need to share more openly, use a Facebook page with public settings or cross-post the story itself to other social platforms. But the default for regular Facebook profiles is a limited, friends-only audience for any stories posted.