Facebook does not directly notify users when someone views their check-ins. However, there are some ways that you can potentially find out if someone has viewed your check-ins on Facebook.
How Facebook Check-Ins Work
When you check in to a location on Facebook, such as a restaurant, store, or venue, that check-in appears on your profile and news feed. Friends and connections on Facebook can see your check-ins when they visit your profile or news feed.
However, Facebook does not actively alert or notify someone when you view their check-in. There is no message that goes to the user to say “John Doe viewed your check-in at Restaurant ABC.” It does not work like Facebook’s read receipts for messages.
Can You Tell Who Views Your Check-Ins?
While Facebook does not directly notify users, there are some ways you may be able to tell if someone has viewed your check-ins:
- See mutual friends of people who checked in: If you check into a place and see friends of friends checked in too, you can look at those mutual friends to guess who may have seen the check-in.
- Monitor ‘Likes’ and comments: If someone likes or comments on your check-in, it’s a sign they saw it.
- Check notification history: If someone engages with your check-in, such as liking it or commenting, you may see that notification in your notifications history.
- Use viewing history: Facebook’s “Viewing History” allows you to see who visited your profile in the past 30 days. If someone checked your profile and saw your check-ins, it may show up here.
While none of these methods provide definitive proof that someone saw your check-in, they can give hints that someone you know may have viewed it recently.
Third-Party Apps and Notifications
There are some third-party social media tools and browser extensions that claim to notify you when someone views your Facebook profile or specific posts. Some examples include:
- Social Insider
- Profile Pro
- Visitors Pro
- Social Tracker
However, users should be wary of such apps. Facebook prohibits apps that claim to show who viewed your profile. At best, these tools may infer who potentially saw your profile based on indirect signals, but they do not have special access to Facebook data.
Facebook Check-In Privacy Settings
If you are concerned about who can see your Facebook check-ins, you can adjust the privacy settings for your posts:
- Friends only: Limit check-in visibility to friends only.
- Acquaintances: Exclude specific people from seeing your check-ins.
- Public: Allow anyone on or off Facebook to see your check-ins.
Adjusting these settings from the default can help restrict visibility of your check-ins to only people you are comfortable with.
Does Facebook Notify Businesses About Check-Ins?
When users check in at businesses on Facebook, the business does not receive any special notification about the check-in. However, businesses can see when customers have checked in at their location in a few ways:
- Page notifications: If the business ‘likes’ or follows their own Facebook Page, check-ins by customers may show up in notifications.
- Page Insights: Business Pages include Insights analytics, allowing the business to see total check-ins and trends.
- Public check-ins: If customers check in publicly, the business can search on Facebook and see these public posts.
So while Facebook does not directly notify the business, the check-in data is available to them through their Facebook business Page.
Should Businesses Encourage Check-Ins?
For many businesses, encouraging customers to check in on Facebook can have benefits:
- Increased visibility – Check-ins show up in news feeds.
- Word of mouth marketing – Friends of customers see the check-ins.
- Customer loyalty rewards – Some places offer deals for checking in.
- Analytics data – Businesses can view check-in data on Insights.
However, there are also some downsides for businesses to consider:
- No direct notifications – As discussed, businesses do not receive alerts about check-ins.
- Potential for negative posts – Angry customers can post complaints via check-ins.
- Requires monitoring – The business needs to monitor check-ins for benefits.
Ultimately, check-ins can provide useful visibility and data for many businesses, but they need to actively monitor and engage with check-ins to maximize the benefits.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Facebook does not directly notify users when someone views their check-ins.
- You may be able to infer who saw your check-in through mutual friends, likes, comments, etc.
- Third-party apps claiming to notify you of profile views are prohibited by Facebook.
- Businesses can see check-ins happening at their location, but are not proactively alerted.
- Enabling check-ins can benefit businesses through increased visibility and data.
Check-ins are a public social media activity, so be thoughtful about what you share and who you want to see it. Adjust privacy settings and be aware of what data may be available to others on Facebook.