Yes, Facebook stories do appear on your timeline. When you post a photo or video as a story on Facebook, it will be visible at the top of your timeline as well as in the stories bar. Friends and followers will be able to view your Facebook stories for 24 hours before they disappear.
Why Do Facebook Stories Appear on Your Timeline?
There are a few reasons why Facebook decided to have stories appear on your timeline when posted:
- Increased visibility – By having stories show up on your timeline, more of your friends and followers will see them since timelines get more visibility than just stories. This gives your story content a better chance of being viewed.
- Consistency with other platforms – Instagram and Snapchat stories also appear on user profiles, so having Facebook stories show on timelines creates a consistent experience across social platforms.
- More opportunities for engagement – Having stories on the timeline allows friends to comment, react, and engage with them much like they would a regular post, in addition to just viewing the story.
Where Do Facebook Stories Appear on Your Timeline?
When you share a photo or video as a story on Facebook, it will appear in the following places:
- At the very top of your timeline – The most recently shared story will be the first post that anyone sees when visiting your profile. Stories are displayed in a bar with your profile picture and name.
- In the stories bar – Along with close friends’ stories, your own stories will appear in the horizontal scrollable stories bar for 24 hours. Friends can tap your profile picture here to view just your stories.
- In your story highlights – Past stories can be added to highlights on your profile that friends can view after the 24 hour period. Highlights keep stories you want to feature permanently visible.
Who Can See Your Facebook Stories?
The visibility settings for who can view your Facebook stories depends on your overall privacy settings:
- Public – If you have a public profile, your stories will be visible to anyone on or off Facebook.
- Friends – Only your accepted friends will be able to see your Facebook stories.
- Custom – You can customize to exclude specific people or just certain lists from viewing your stories.
So unless you limit your story audience, when you post a story to Facebook it will be potentially visible to all of your friends as well as anyone who comes across your public profile. The default visibility tends to be public.
How Long Do Facebook Stories Last?
Unlike regular Facebook posts and photos which remain on your timeline unless deleted, Facebook stories are only visible for a limited time:
- Stories are visible for 24 hours after being shared. After that, they disappear from the stories bar.
- Friends and followers can view your 24 hour stories as many times as they want during that 1 day period.
- You can also save expired stories to highlights on your profile where they will persist past 24 hours.
- Viewers can reply or react to stories during the 24 hours before they expire.
So if you want your story content to have a more permanent home, you’ll need to add it to a highlight on your profile after the 24 hours. Otherwise, the story will simply vanish and no longer appear on your timeline.
Do Facebook Stories Show Up Differently Than Regular Posts?
Yes, there are a few key differences in how Facebook stories appear on your timeline versus regular photo and video posts:
- Stories appear at the very top of the timeline above all other posts.
- They are displayed as a horizontal scroll of circular profile pictures rather than vertical posts.
- When shared to your timeline, stories are not permanent like regular posts.
- Any reactions and comments to stories will disappear after 24 hours also.
- Stories do not have any public like, share, or view counts visible.
So when friends and followers view your profile, it will be immediately clear which content is an ephemeral story versus a regular permanent post based on its positioning and appearance.
Can You Share Facebook Stories on Your Timeline?
If you want to share a Facebook story more permanently on your timeline, you have a couple options:
- Download the story within 24 hours and re-upload it as a post – This will publish it like a regular photo or video post.
- Add the story to a highlight on your profile – Highlights allow stories to be displayed long-term on your profile.
- Share a link to your Facebook story – Copy the link while viewing the story and paste it into a post or message.
Keeping in mind that any reactions or comments on the original story will still disappear after 24 hours and not carry over. The only way to permanently publish a Facebook story on your timeline is to download it and upload as a new post.
Do Facebook Stories Appear in Facebook Search?
Facebook stories will only appear in search results in the following cases:
- If you are within the 24 hour story timeframe, it may show up in a search of your name or username.
- Stories added to highlights on your profile can be found in search.
- Friends share a link to your Facebook story.
However, Facebook stories do not appear in hashtag searches during the 24 hours they are live, and cannot be found through hashtag searches after expiring. So Facebook search typically will not surface old or expired stories.
Can You Reshare a Facebook Story?
You cannot directly reshare someone else’s Facebook story like you can a post. But there are couple ways you can still re-post them:
- Screen record the story and share the video – Just be sure to have the user’s permission first.
- Ask the user to add their story to a highlight and reshare the link.
- Download the story if they’ve enabled downloads and re-post it.
- Screenshot the story and share the photo – Again make sure you have permission.
Essentially resharing requires either downloading the content and re-uploading it, or sharing a screenshot/video of the story. But there is no “share” button for Facebook stories like with regular posts.
Can You Delete or Edit Facebook Stories?
Since Facebook stories disappear after 24 hours, there is no way to delete or edit them after posting:
- You’ll need to wait for stories to expire if you want them removed.
- No editing tool or delete option exists since stories are ephemeral.
- You can report a story from your archive which may lead to its removal.
- Contacting Facebook support is the only way to delete a story before 24 hours.
So other than un-publishing immediately after posting, your only option is to wait out the 24 hour period for a story to vanish. They cannot be manually deleted or edited.
Can You Save or Download Facebook Stories?
Yes, Facebook does give you the option to save a copy of stories in a couple ways:
- On your own stories, you can download your content by tapping the more menu.
- To save someone else’s story, you can screen record or screenshot it.
- Enable story downloads in settings if you want friends to be able to save your stories.
- Use a third party app to download stories you have access to.
Downloading stories lets you save copies before they expire after 24 hours. This gives you the ability to reshare stories or upload them as standalone posts later. But you need permission from creators if reposting their content.
Can You Upload Facebook Stories from Camera Roll?
Rather than only using the in-app Facebook camera to capture stories, you can also post stories using photos and videos from your camera roll:
- When composing a story, access your camera roll from the media tray at the bottom.
- Select up to 10 photos/videos to upload as your story.
- Edit images and videos after selecting from your camera roll.
- Trim longer videos to fit the 15 second per story limit.
Uploading existing photos and videos can be an easier way to quickly share content to your story without having to create it directly in the Facebook app. Just tap the camera roll icon rather than the circular shutter button.
Can You Post Facebook Stories Anonymously?
There is no built-in way to post anonymous Facebook stories. Stories are always tied to your profile and account:
- Stories are posted under your name and profile picture.
- Switching to a business page does not make stories anonymous.
- Facebook has no anonymity feature or option for stories.
- A fake or anonymous account could be used but violates Facebook’s rules.
Your Facebook friends and followers will always be able to see that you posted any story. The only way to anonymously share Facebook stories would be using a fake account, which puts your real account at risk of deletion.
Conclusion
Facebook stories appear at the top of your profile timeline while they are live for 24 hours. Friends can tap your profile picture in the stories bar to view your stories. While similar to posts in some ways, stories have a distinct visual design and ephemeral nature. You cannot reshare, edit, or delete Facebook stories, and they are not anonymous. But you can save your own stories before they expire and reshare them as regular posts. Overall the integration of stories on timelines allows them to gain more visibility than if they were separate from your profile.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do Facebook stories appear on your timeline? | Yes, stories appear at the top of your timeline and in the stories bar while live. |
| How long do Facebook stories last? | Stories disappear after 24 hours from being posted. |
| Can you reshare a Facebook story? | You cannot directly reshare but can screenshot or screen record to repost. |
| Can you edit or delete stories? | No, Facebook stories cannot be edited or deleted before the 24 hour expiration. |
| Can you save Facebook stories? | You can download your own stories, or screenshot/record others with permission. |
In summary, Facebook stories give you an ephemeral way to share photos and videos to your timeline. They help increase engagement and visibility, while still being temporary content. Using camera roll uploads makes story creation easier. And downloading capability allows you to save stories before they disappear after a day. Overall Facebook stories integrate the popular stories format into the core sharing capabilities of your timeline.