Having a large number of followers or likes on your Facebook page can be an asset when trying to establish credibility and authority around your brand. However, some page owners prefer to keep their follower count private for various reasons. So an important question arises – is it possible to turn off the public display of your Facebook page’s follower or like count?
Quick Answer
Unfortunately, there is no direct way to completely hide or turn off the follower or like count on a Facebook page. The number of followers/likes is always displayed publicly on your Facebook page. However, you can choose to hide the names and profiles of your individual followers under the Page Settings.
Hiding Follower Names vs Follower Count
When we talk about hiding followers on a Facebook page, there are two aspects – hiding the names/profiles of individual followers and hiding the total follower/like count.
You can hide the names and profiles of people who follow/like your page by changing the viewing option under Page Settings. But there is no setting to hide the overall follower or like count displayed on your page.
So even if individual follower names are hidden, anyone visiting your page can still see the total number of followers/likes your page has accumulated.
Why Facebook Doesn’t Allow Hiding Follower Count
Facebook designed pages to be public profiles for businesses, brands, organizations and public figures to connect with their target audience. Unlike personal profiles, Facebook pages are meant to be visible to everyone by default.
Displaying the number of followers/likes allows visitors to quickly gauge a page’s popularity and credibility. For the same reason, many social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc. also display public follower counts.
Follower numbers are an important metric that provides social proof of a page’s legitimacy and authority around a subject matter. Removing this publicly displayed metric goes against the inherent purpose of social media pages.
Facebook product teams have clearly stated that they have no plans to add options to hide public follower/like counts on pages. The transparency of these metrics is by design on Facebook’s part.
Workarounds to Hide Follower Count
Despite Facebook not allowing page owners to turn off follower counts, some workarounds have emerged over the years:
Use a Vanity URL
You can mask the direct facebook.com/PageName URL of your page by converting it to a vanity URL using Facebook’s username system.
For example, instead of facebook.com/MyBusinessPage you can rename it to facebook.com/MyBusinessUsername.
This way, when people visit the vanity URL, the follower count is not visible. Only those who land directly on facebook.com/MyBusinessPage will see the follower number.
Remove from Favorites
Facebook shows follower counts of pages you have favorited or liked at the top beside your own profile pic. Removing a page from your favorites will remove it from this section.
Create Private Groups
You can create private Facebook groups around your brand/business and invite your followers there instead of a public page. Follower count is not displayed for groups.
But obviously, this loses the transparency and default public access of a Facebook page.
Should You Actually Hide Your Follower Count?
Before trying to hide your Facebook page’s follower number, think about why you want to do that in the first place. Some common reasons page owners want to hide likes/followers include:
- Avoid looking bad if you have low followers
- Present more exclusive look by hiding followers
- Stop competitors from spying on follower growth
But none of these reasons are compelling enough to warrant hiding an important credibility metric like followers. Rather than focusing on hiding follower counts, put your efforts into creating great content and engagements to organically grow a loyal community around your page.
Conclusion
While Facebook does not provide any direct option to hide public follower/like counts, you can choose to hide individual follower names and profiles under Page Settings for some privacy.
But the overall follower and like numbers will remain visible to give visitors an idea of your page’s reach and popularity.
Instead of finding tricky workarounds, it’s best to embrace the transparency of follower metrics. Focus your energy on building an authentic community that engages with your brand on Facebook.
Rather than follower count, track meaningful engagement through comments, shares, mentions etc. to measure your page’s resonance with target audiences.
| Pros of Public Follower Count | Cons of Hiding Follower Count |
|---|---|
| Provides social proof and credibility for your page | Loses trust and transparency around your page |
| Lets people see your community’s growth | Appears like you have something to hide |
| Follows Facebook’s intended design for pages | Complicated workarounds don’t fully hide count |
| Motivates you to grow followers organically | Focus shifts to vanity metrics instead of engagement |
So be confident showing off your page’s follower count – it’s a metric worth being proud of!
Use your creativity and passion to build an audience that genuinely cares about your brand on Facebook. That is the best path to social media success.
Any other questions on managing your Facebook page? Let me know in the comments!