Facebook has privacy settings that allow users to control who can view their profile and posts. If you follow someone on Facebook, they will be notified of your new follower status, but can they also view your profile? Here is a look at how Facebook’s privacy settings determine profile visibility when you follow someone.
Does Following Someone Allow Them to View Your Profile?
No, simply following someone on Facebook does not automatically give them access to view your profile. When you follow someone, they will get a notification that you started following them. However, they will not be able to view your profile or posts unless your privacy settings allow it.
Facebook has custom privacy settings that let you control precisely who can see your profile and posts. By default, Facebook profiles are viewable by the public. However, you can customize this to only allow Friends, Friends of Friends, specific lists or groups, or only yourself to see your profile.
So if you adjust your privacy settings to limit profile viewing to just Friends, a person you follow would not be able to see your profile unless you also added them as a Friend. The act of following them alone does not override your profile privacy settings.
How to Check Your Facebook Profile Privacy Settings
Here are the steps to view your current Facebook profile privacy settings:
- Click on the down arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and select “Settings”.
- On the left sidebar, click “Privacy”.
- Go to the “Your privacy settings” section.
- Click “Edit” next to “Who can see your profile?”
This will show you the current audience for who can view your profile. The options you can set this to include:
- Public – Anyone including people off Facebook can see your profile.
- Friends – Only your added Friends can view your profile.
- Friends except… – Friends except for specific people you exclude.
- Only Me – Just you can see your profile.
- Custom – Set viewing to specific friend lists or groups.
Setting your profile viewing to Friends or a more limited audience prevents a person you follow from seeing your profile unless you also add them as a Friend.
Do Followers Appear in Your Followers List?
Yes, when you follow someone on Facebook it does add you to their Followers list. So even if the person can’t see your profile, they will still know that you have followed them because you appear in their list of followers.
To see your own list of Facebook followers:
- Go to your profile page.
- In the left column click “Followers” under your cover photo.
This displays a list of people who are following your public updates. If you follow someone, you will appear in their followers list.
Can You See Who Views Your Facebook Profile?
Facebook does not have a direct way for users to see who has viewed their profile. This information is not available because of user privacy reasons. However, there are some indirect ways you may be able to tell if specific people have visited your profile.
Recent Profile Visitor Notifications
If someone views your profile, Facebook may show that person to you as a recommendation for a new friend under “People You May Know”. This allows you to make the possible connection that the person viewed your profile.
Facebook Viewer Apps
There are third-party Facebook apps like Profile View Tracker that can be added to show stats on profile viewers. However, Facebook has limited the abilities of these apps to collect profile viewing data.
Page Insights
If you have a Facebook Page, the Insights analytics show demographics of users who visited your Facebook Page. You can see metrics like age, gender, country and city to make educated guesses on who viewed your Page.
Ways to See If Someone Views Your Profile
While Facebook has removed direct profile viewing tracking, there are still some creative ways you may be able to gauge if a specific person has visited your profile:
- Check People You May Know – See if they appear there soon after visiting you.
- Use the Viewer Apps – See if third-party apps show any viewer spikes.
- Analyze Page Insights – Check user demographics if you have a Facebook Page.
- Try Following Them – Follow them and see if they follow you back.
- Monitor Mutual Friends – Watch if you suddenly gain mutual Friends.
- Check Relationship Status – See if they soon change it from “Single” after the visit.
While not completely definitive, these tactics can give clues that someone likely interacted with your profile if changes occur soon after a suspected visit. But keep in mind there are no direct methods and viewing profiles does not notify the user.
Should You Follow Someone You Don’t Know on Facebook?
Following strangers or loose acquaintances on Facebook comes with some risks. Here are some factors to consider:
- They will appear in your followers list and know you followed them.
- They may get the wrong idea if they don’t know you well.
- It could come across as strange behavior or socially awkward.
- You may see unwanted updates from them in your News Feed.
- They may not follow you back which could seem like rejection.
In most cases it’s wise to only follow people on Facebook who you know fairly well in real life. Following strangers can be seen as odd behavior and gives them some access to interact with your profile.
However, it can be acceptable to follow celebrities, businesses, or organizations that you admire but don’t personally know. Just be selective in who gets access to your news updates.
Can You Prevent Followers on Facebook?
Unlike other social networks like Twitter or Instagram, there is no way to prevent a specific person from following you on Facebook. Your profile privacy settings only limit who can see your profile, they do not block follows.
Even if you limit views to Friends, anyone can still follow your public updates. To fully block someone, you would need to block them which completely severs the connection by:
- Clicking the down arrow at the top right of Facebook.
- Selecting “Settings”.
- Choosing “Blocking” from the left menu.
- Entering the name of the person to block.
But keep in mind that blocking someone is permanent unless you later decide to unblock them. Blocking just to prevent a follow may be viewed as too extreme.
Should You Follow or Be Friends?
So when is it appropriate to follow versus friend request someone? Here are some guidelines:
- Follow – They are acquaintances, local businesses, or public figures you want updates from but don’t know personally.
- Friend Request – They are people you know fairly well and want to interact with further.
Following allows a less personal connection without giving full profile access. Use friend requests for closer contacts you want to build an ongoing relationship with on Facebook.
Can You See Who Someone Follows?
Just as others can’t see who you follow when they visit your profile, you also can’t see a full list of who someone else follows unless they specifically choose to share it.
When you visit someone’s profile, you can only see a limited sampling of the accounts that they follow in the “Following” section. This will show just a few of their followed Pages and profiles.
To see the full list, the user would need to proactively set their “Following” list privacy to “Public” rather than the default “Private” setting. Most users leave it private so you can’t see a full list of accounts they follow.
Conclusion
Following someone on Facebook simply shares your public posts with them – it does not give them access to view your full profile. Profile viewing is controlled separately through Facebook’s privacy settings for who can see your profile.
The act of following alone will not let someone see your profile. However, they will appear in your followers list and know that you have followed them. Be selective in who you follow, as many people find it strange to follow strangers or loose acquaintances.
While Facebook does not have tools to see who viewed your profile, you can make educated guesses based on changes that happen after suspected visits. Use friend requests to establish closer connections and follows for more casual, one-way sharing of your public updates.