Facebook stories allow users to post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. Unlike regular Facebook posts, stories do not have visible like or reaction counts. This often leads people to wonder – can you see who liked your Facebook story?
The short answer is no, users cannot see who specifically liked or reacted to their Facebook stories. Facebook purposefully removed visible like and reaction counts from stories to put more focus on sharing experiences instead of popularity.
However, there are a few caveats to this that provide some insight into story engagement. While individual likes are private, users can see the total number of times their story has been replayed. Page owners can also see some analytics about story performance in Facebook Analytics and Creator Studio.
Do Facebook stories show likes?
Regular Facebook posts have visible like, reaction, and share counts below them. This lets you see how many people liked, loved, laughed at, or otherwise reacted to a post.
Stories do not have these visible counts. When you post a story, it will not display the number of likes, reactions, or shares it receives.
The exception to this is Facebook active status stories. Active status stories appear at the top of the news feed and disappear after 30 minutes. These active status stories do show view counts while they are live.
But the standard photo and video stories that appear in your story archive will never show like or reaction totals. The only engagement metric you can see is the number of replays your story receives.
Why don’t Facebook stories show likes?
Not showing like and reaction counts on stories is an intentional decision by Facebook. They want stories to be focused on sharing personal, authentic moments instead of achieving high view counts or viral popularity.
Some of the reasons Facebook stories do not show likes:
- Encourage sharing for self-expression rather than popularity
- Reduce social pressure and comparisons based on engagement metrics
- Make the experience more authentic and focused on connections
- Shift the focus to individuals viewing stories rather than public counts
- Prevent competition around creating viral, click-bait style stories
In their own words, Facebook said stories are meant to “to see what friends are up to in the moment, instead of vying for Likes and comments.” Removing public engagement metrics helps align stories with that purpose.
Who can see the people who’ve liked a story?
While you can’t see who specifically liked your Facebook story, there are a few ways to get some limited visibility:
Story owner
The owner of the Facebook story cannot see names of individual people who liked their story. The only insight you have as the story poster is being able to see the total number of replays your story receives.
Page owners
If posting stories from a Facebook page, page owners can see some high-level analytics and metrics in Facebook Analytics and Creator Studio. This includes:
- Total story replies
- Story reactions by type
- Total viewers and peak views
- Average watch time
- Total viewers by age and gender
However, it still does not show the names or profiles of individual people who liked it.
While users can’t see who liked their stories, Facebook itself can see this data. They state they analyze story performance and viewership to improve the user experience.
Story viewers
People viewing a story can see if their own Facebook friends have liked the story and view real-time engagement. But they only see collective data and can’t see the full list of who liked a story.
Do Facebook stories notify when someone screenshots?
No, Facebook stories do not send a notification if someone takes a screenshot. This differs from Instagram and Snapchat stories, which notify the user if someone screenshots their story.
Facebook has not implemented screenshot notifications for stories. You will not be alerted if any viewers take screenshots of your Facebook stories.
The rationale is that Facebook stories disappear after 24 hours anyway. A screenshot simply preserves something that was already viewable to that person’s friends list.
Of course, users should still be thoughtful about taking screenshots of others’ stories when the intention was to share something temporary. But there is no built-in mechanism to prevent it or notify the story poster.
Can you see who viewed your Facebook story?
Facebook does not provide a list of who has viewed your story. You will only see a general view count on your own story. This is both for standard user stories and Facebook page stories.
The viewer list was removed both for privacy and to emphasize sharing over popularity. While you can see an overall view of how many times a story was seen, you will not see individual viewers.
Some third-party analytics tools claim they can show Facebook story viewer data. However, viewer lists are no longer available through the Facebook API. Any tool claiming to show your Facebook story viewers is likely inflated or inaccurate.
Should Facebook stories show likes?
There are reasonable arguments on both sides of whether story likes should be public:
Reasons to show likes
- Likes provide valuable feedback and reinforcement
- High engagement is a signal of relevance and interest
- Helps posters understand what resonates with their audience
- Allows competition and motivation around creating viral content
Reasons to hide likes
- Creates social pressure and comparisons around popularity
- Causes anxiety and self-esteem issues around lack of perceived engagement
- Incentivizes creating stories just for likes instead of authenticity
- Rewards controversial click-bait style stories intended to go viral
Facebook clearly believes the potential harms of showing likes outweigh the benefits. Especially for an ephemeral format meant for casual sharing between friends.
They want stories to show genuine moments from your life, not stage performances optimized to achieve high engagement. However, reasonable people can disagree on which approach is better.
Should I use Facebook stories for business?
Facebook stories are primarily designed for personal sharing rather than professional brand building. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be valuable for businesses in certain situations:
Benefits of business stories
- Share behind-the-scenes glimpses at your business
- Strengthen engagement and relationships with customers
- Increase reach and discovery with different formats
- Quickly post announcements, events, and news
Downsides of business stories
- Can’t see detailed analytics or viewer demographics
- Ephemeral and disconnected from main profile
- Harder to track success or viral stories
- Less professional than permanent published content
The casual nature of stories likely works best for brands who want to highlight company culture, products, employees, and behind-the-scenes footage. More polished content with strong call-to-actions may fit better as regular Facebook posts.
Tips for sharing great Facebook stories
To share interesting stories that resonate with friends and followers, keep these tips in mind:
- Post frequently to stay at top of feed and build a habit
- Highlight interesting aspects of your day, travels, and activities
- Use creative angles, settings, props, effects to stand out
- Engage viewers with polls, quizzes, questions, or challenges
- Be yourself and post content true to your personality and style
- Have fun brainstorming ideas and take risks over perfection
Avoid overthinking it or trying to go viral. Focus on authentic moments from your life rather than manufactured content. Even if you have a small inner circle who engages with your stories, that sense of connection and fun is what matters.
Conclusion
Facebook stories provide a more personal, ephemeral way to share your day. Unlike regular posts, stories do not show public like counts or viewer lists. This design choice aims to reduce the pressure for popularity and keep the focus on authentic connections.
While the individual people who see and engage with your story remain anonymous, you can access overall metrics on reach and engagement for page stories. The metrics focus more on actual story views rather than likes.
Ultimately, it’s about sharing snapshots of your world without fixation on arbitrary internet points. So don’t worry about who liked what — just have fun connecting with your audience in the moment!