Facebook allows users to see who has viewed their stories. When you post a story on Facebook, it shows a list of people who have seen it. This can give you an idea of how widely your story has been viewed. However, Facebook’s viewer list has some quirks and limitations that are good to understand.
Who can see your Facebook story viewers?
Only you can see who has viewed your Facebook stories. Other people will not be able to see your list of story viewers. It is a private list that only appears for you. So you don’t have to worry about others snooping on who is viewing your stories.
How does the Facebook story viewer list work?
Facebook’s story viewer list shows you a sample of people who have seen your story. It does not show every single viewer. According to Facebook, it chooses a portion of viewers to show you from the past 24 hours. The people it selects come from your friends, friends of friends, and public figures.
Facebook prioritizes showing you story viewers who engage with you the most. For example, if your close friend views your story, they are more likely to appear than a distant acquaintance. The list refreshes over time to continue sampling viewers from the past day.
Why doesn’t it show all viewers?
There are a few reasons why Facebook only shows a portion of story viewers rather than a complete list:
- Privacy – Facebook cannot disclose that someone viewed your content if they have privacy settings enabled to hide their online status or story viewing activity.
- List length – Displaying thousands of viewers would make the list too long to scan through easily.
- Relevance – Showing your closest friends and followers keeps the list focused on viewers who matter most.
How many viewers does Facebook show?
The number of viewers shown in your story list depends on how many people have actually seen it. Tests suggest that Facebook samples viewers to show you approximately:
- 50-100 viewers if you have under 1,000 views
- 100-200 viewers if you have 1,000 to 10,000 views
- 200-300 viewers if you have 10,000 to 100,000 views
- 300+ viewers if you have over 100,000 views
So the more views your story gets, the more sampled viewers will appear in your list.
Does viewing order matter?
The order that viewers appear in your story list loosely indicates who saw your story first. But it is not an exact, timestamped sequence. General patterns seem to be:
- First 10-20 viewers – saw your story within the first hour
- Next 10-20 viewers – saw your story 1-3 hours later
- Remaining viewers – saw your story recently within the past 24 hours
Think of the order as a general guide to when people viewed rather than a precise log. The timing can also sometimes seem inconsistent or illogical if Facebook’s sampling leaves gaps.
Does percentage viewed matter?
For photo and video stories, your viewer list shows what percentage of that story the person watched. A higher percentage suggests they viewed more of the content. This gives you a sense of who engaged most with your story.
Beware that the percentage viewed metric is not very accurate. It is based on each additional tap or scroll action counting as more content viewed. So someone could scroll through slowly and register more “viewed” than someone who glances at the whole thing in one tap.
What does the viewer list icon mean?
Facebook uses icons next to each viewer to indicate your relationship with them:
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| User icon | Close friend or family member |
| Smiley face | Other Facebook friend |
| Globe | Public figure or page you follow |
| Silhouette | Unnamed Facebook acquaintance |
The icons give you quick context on the type of relationship you have with each story viewer.
Can you hide from someone’s viewer list?
There is no way to hide that you looked at someone’s story on Facebook. Your name may appear in their viewer list at any time per Facebook’s sampling process.
However, you can prevent being identifiable in two ways:
- Adjust your audience selector when viewing stories to “Only Me.” This makes your story activity completely private.
- Unfriend or block the person so you no longer have a connection on Facebook.
Other than that, there is no setting to disappear from a person’s viewers list after checking out their story.
Can you see viewers of expiring/disappearing stories?
For stories that expire or disappear after 24 hours, you can only see the viewer list while the story is live. Once it expires, the viewer list also goes away and cannot be retrieved again.
So if you want to record viewers of an expiring story, you would need to screenshot the list before that story disappears.
Does deleting a story delete the viewers?
When you delete a story post, the viewer list for that story will disappear as well. However, there can be a delay before the viewers are removed after deletion.
It is not instantaneous. Allow up to a day for the backend systems to clear a deleted story’s viewer history.
Can you download your viewer list?
Unfortunately, there is no official way to download or export your full list of Facebook story viewers. The viewer list is only visible temporarily within the Facebook app.
Some workarounds:
- Screenshot or record your viewer list to save it externally.
- Use third-party analytics tools connected to a Facebook Business account to export story metrics.
- Capture your viewer list data by copying it into a spreadsheet.
But there is no native Facebook function to compile your viewer data into a file.
Conclusion
Facebook’s story viewer list gives useful but limited insight into who is engaging with your content. Keep in mind the sampler behavior rather than expecting a full set of data. Check the icons and order for signals of viewer interest. But don’t rely on viewer lists for any robust analytics.