Following someone on Facebook allows you to see their posts in your News Feed and keeps you updated on their activity. When you follow someone, here’s what happens:
Their public posts appear in your News Feed
When you follow someone, their public posts will automatically show up in your News Feed. This includes their status updates, photos, videos, links, and content they’re tagged in by others.
You’ll see their posts intermixed with posts from your friends and other connections. Their posts won’t automatically show up at the top of your feed unless you actively engage with that person’s content regularly.
You’ll stay updated on their major life events
Following someone allows you to keep up with major events and announcements in their life. For example, if they get married, have a baby, change jobs, move somewhere new, or celebrate a milestone, you’re likely to see posts about it.
Major life events like these often lead to an increase in posting activity, so the person’s posts may show up more frequently around these times.
You can interact with their public content
When you follow someone on Facebook, you’re able to interact with their public posts and content. You can react using the Like, Love, Care, HaHa, Wow, Sad, and Angry reactions.
You can also comment on their posts to share your thoughts and engage in discussion with them and others who follow them. They will be notified when you react to or comment on their posts.
You may see some of their private updates
In some cases, you may be able to view some of the posts that a person sets to “Friends Except” or “Specific Friends” if you have mutual friends in common.
For example, if you and the person you’re following have 50 mutual friends, there’s a chance you’ll be able to see posts they’ve shared with those mutual friends.
However, you won’t see any of their posts they’ve set to “Friends Only,” as those are visible to friends exclusively.
You’ll stay connected if you ever become Facebook friends
Following someone now makes it easy to transition to becoming Facebook friends later. When you follow someone, you’ll appear as a follower on their profile.
If you ever become Facebook friends down the road, they’ll automatically be added to your friends list since you already followed them. This prevents you from losing touch.
You may view some of their archive posts
In addition to their new posts, you may be able to scroll back and view some of the posts a person has shared over the years. However, you likely won’t have access to all of their previous posts.
Being friends with someone on Facebook gives you the ability to scroll back through their entire posting history. Following someone gives you access to some of their archived posts, but not all.
You have the option to unfollow them
If you find yourself no longer interested in someone’s updates, you can unfollow them to stop seeing their posts in your News Feed.
This removes their content from your feed but doesn’t unfriend or block them. You can still visit their profile to view posts at any time if you choose.
They are notified when you start following them
When you follow someone on Facebook, they will receive a notification letting them know. They may follow you back or send you a friend request in response.
However, some people have their profile set up so they have to approve followers. In that case, they’ll have to approve you before you can follow them and see their public posts.
Following someone does not let you message them
Unfortunately, following someone does not give you the ability to privately message, video chat, or use Messenger with them. Those features are reserved for Facebook friends.
If you want to message someone you don’t already know, you’ll need to send them a friend request that they’ll have to accept before you can communicate directly.
You don’t show up as friends to your common connections
To your mutual friends, it will not appear like you and the person you are following are friends with each other. You will both simply show up as connections in their friends lists.
Until you officially become Facebook friends, your mutual connections will have no indication that you interact with or follow that person’s profile updates.
You can only follow a limited number of people
Facebook limits the number of people you can follow as a safety measure and to prevent spammy behavior. According to their policy, you can only follow up to 10,000 people.
If you try to follow someone after reaching that limit, you’ll receive an error message that you’ve reached the maximum amount of people you can follow.
Pages aren’t subject to the same limits
While individual profiles have follow limits, you can follow an unlimited number of Facebook pages for brands, businesses, artists, influencers, groups, and organizations.
Following pages allows you to stay up to date with all their product launches, events, and announcements. Their public posts will appear in your News Feed.
Following someone adds them to your followers list
Just like other people can follow you, the people you follow will appear on your own followers list on your profile.
This allows you to easily manage, view, and search the list of accounts you currently follow on Facebook.
You may be restricted from viewing certain posts
There are some limitations on the posts you can see from a profile you follow, but aren’t friends with. For example:
- You likely won’t see posts they’ve shared to Close Friends lists.
- Posts shared directly to other people or groups may not appear in your feed.
- Stories may not be visible to followers.
- Posts with audience restrictions will remain hidden.
As a general rule, you’ll see all their public posts, but more private content will require a confirmed friend connection.
You can only follow profiles of real people
For safety and authenticity reasons, Facebook does not allow you to follow fictional people or fake profiles. Accounts must represent real people in order to be followed.
If you try to follow a profile that violates Facebook’s Terms of Service, you’ll get an error message and be unable to view any of their content in your feed.
Following someone can enrich your News Feed
If you admire someone’s posts but don’t have a close personal connection, following their profile can be a nice way to passively keep up with their updates.
The variety of updates from people you follow can enrich your everyday News Feed experience and expose you to new perspectives, stories, and types of content.
It’s a lower-commitment way to stay connected
Following someone allows you to stay loosely connected without the reciprocity required of a friend request. It’s ideal for public figures or interesting acquaintances you want to keep tabs on.
You can silently follow someone without them needing to approve a friend request. And unfollowing is easier than unfriending if you change your mind.
Conclusion
Following a Facebook account gives you access to all of their public posts, updates, photos, and content. It allows you to stay up to date with their major life events and interact with their profile without a formal friend connection.
While there are limits on how many accounts you can follow and restrictions on viewing private content, following profiles can be a convenient way to enrich your everyday News Feed.