Who can see my FB reactions?

Facebook reactions allow users to quickly respond to posts with emojis representing different emotions. When you react to a post, that reaction is visible to certain people depending on the privacy settings of the original post. Here’s a quick overview of who can see your reactions on Facebook:

Friends and Public Posts

If you react to a friend’s post that is set to Friends or Public, your reaction will be visible to anyone who can see the original post. This includes:

The person who posted it

All of their friends
Your friends
Friends of friends, if the post is Public

So if you heart react to your friend’s public photo, all of their friends and all of your friends will be able to see that you reacted to that post.

Friends Except Acquaintances

If you react to a post set to Friends Except Acquaintances, your reaction will be visible to:

The person who posted it

Their close friends
Your close friends

Acquaintances of the person who posted it will not see your reaction. This more limited audience applies even if you are friends with the acquaintances.

Only Me

If you react to a post that is set to Only Me, no one else will be able to see your reaction, not even the person who originally posted it. Your reactions are completely private in this case.

Groups

For posts in groups, your reactions will be visible to:

The person who posted in the group

Anyone else who is a member of that group

People who are not members of the group will not see your reaction.

Close Friends Lists

If you react to a post shared with a Close Friends list, your reaction will only be visible to:

The person who posted it
Other people on that Close Friends list

People not on the list, even if they are your friends, will not see that you reacted.

Close Friends Except Acquaintances

For posts set to Close Friends Except Acquaintances, your reactions will be visible to:

The person who posted

Close friends on the list

Acquaintances on the list will not see your reaction.

Private Messages

If you react to a private message, no one else will see your reaction besides you and the person you messaged.

Who Can See My Reactions Summary

Here is a summary of who can see your reactions based on the privacy setting of the original post:

Post Privacy Setting	Who Can See Your Reaction
Public	Anyone who can see the post
Friends	Friends of the poster and your friends
Friends Except Acquaintances	Close friends of the poster and your close friends
Only Me	Only you
Groups	Group members
Pages	Page admin and others who reacted
Close Friends List	People on the list
Close Friends Except Acquaintances	Close friends on the list
Private Messages	Only you and recipient

Changing the Audience for Your Reactions

If you’ve reacted to a post and then decide you want to limit the audience, you can always remove your reaction. Just click on the reaction emoji again to un-react. The reaction will be deleted and no one will be able to see it.

You can also change the privacy setting on posts you’ve shared to limit the audience for your reactions. Go to the post, click the 3-dot menu button, select Edit Privacy, and change it to Only Me or a custom audience. This will retroactively limit who can see that you reacted.

Unreact to Remove Reaction

To take back a reaction, click on the emoji you already reacted with. This will remove your reaction so it is no longer visible.

Edit Post Privacy After Reacting

You can edit the audience for a post after reacting to make your reaction more private. Just change the post privacy to Only Me, Close Friends, or a custom list.

Seeing Who Reacted to Your Posts

Just like others can see your reactions, you can also see who has reacted to posts you share. The people who can view the reactions on your posts depend on the privacy setting:

Public – Anyone can see who reacted
Friends – Your friends can see reactors
Friends Except Acquaintances – Only close friends see reactors

Only Me – You’re the only one who can see reactors
Groups – Group members see reactors
Close Friends Lists – People on the list see reactors

So in summary, whoever can see the original post can also see the list of people who have reacted to it.

Check Reactions on Your Posts

To see who has reacted to your post, click on the reaction emoji icon below the post. This will show a list of friends who reacted.

Limiting Who Can See Your Reaction

If you’ve reacted to a post and want to limit who can see that reaction later, you have a few options:

Unreact – Remove your reaction by clicking on the emoji again
Edit post privacy – Change the original post’s privacy to Only Me or Close Friends
Remove tag – Untag yourself if you’ve been tagged in a post

You can also be more selective about when you react and consider the audience. React mainly on posts shared to close friends if you want to limit visibility.

Remove Reaction

Unreacting to a post will immediately remove your reaction so no one can see it.

Edit Post Privacy

Editing the privacy setting on a post you reacted to will retroactively limit who can see your reaction.

Reacting Anonymously on Public Posts

There is no built-in way to react anonymously to public posts on Facebook. Your reaction will be visible to anyone who can see the post.

A few possible workarounds if you want to react more privately include:

Create a secondary private Facebook account just for reacting

Use a browser extension that allows anonymous reactions
Ask a close friend to react for you

However, there is no official anonymous reaction feature offered by Facebook at this time.

Secondary Reaction-Only Account

Having a separate Facebook account just for reacting to posts can allow you to react more anonymously on public posts.

Browser Extensions

Some third-party browser extensions claim to offer anonymous reactions, though Facebook does not endorse these methods.

Accidentally Reacting to Old Posts

Sometimes people react to posts accidentally while scrolling through older content. When this happens, the old post gets bumped back up to the top of your friends’ feeds.

This can be embarrassing if it’s an old post and it seems like you’re intentionally engaging with dated content. Here are some tips to avoid reacting to old posts accidentally:

Be careful scrolling and tapping when on your feed
Double check the post date before reacting

Unreact immediately if you do accidentally react

If you notice old posts in your feed because a friend has reacted to them, you can always hide that content rather than unfollowing the person.

Check Post Date

Get in the habit of checking the date on a post before reacting. This can help avoid accidentally reacting to old content.

Hide Content

Instead of unfollowing someone who reacted to an old post, you can just hide that specific content from your feed.

Reacting to Deleted or Expired Posts

When someone deletes a post or their account, any reactions on that post are also deleted. You will not be able to see or react to deleted posts.

If a post has expired (for example, a story that is no longer available), you also cannot view or react to it. Reactions disappear along with expired posts.

So in summary, you can only react to active posts that have not been deleted or removed. Reactions are not preserved after a post is gone.

Restricting Reactions on Your Posts

Page admins can restrict reactions on their Page posts by toggling an option in Post Visibility settings. This prevents people from reacting to Page posts with certain emojis.

However, there is no built-in way for personal account holders to disable reactions on their posts. You cannot restrict which emojis people can use to react to your content.

Pages Can Limit Reactions

Pages have the ability to restrict reactions, but personal profiles do not have this control for their own posts.

Using Reactions for Marketing

Reactions can provide helpful social proof and engagement for businesses and influencers on Facebook. Some best practices include:

Post content designed to get strong reactions like cute animals or funny videos

Engage with followers by reacting to their comments
Reply to reactions with a quick thanks or acknowledgement
Run reaction-based contests or campaigns

High numbers of reactions tend to perform well in the algorithm, so this can be an effective marketing tactic on Facebook.

Reply to Reactions

Build relationships by directly replying to reactions with a comment of thanks or acknowledgement.

Reaction Contests

Run contests where people need to react in order to enter or win. This drives engagement.

Using Reactions to Show Support

Reactions allow you to easily show support for the posts in your feed. Some ways to effectively use reactions to show support include:

Reacting to posts from close friends going through tough times
Cheering up friends having a bad day with smile or heart reactions

Congratulating achievements and milestones with a fire reaction

Being selective about when you use reactions can give them more meaning and allow you to better support the people in your network.

React to Support Friends

Use reactions on your friends’ posts when you want to show support during difficult times or big milestones.

Reacting to Random Content

It’s best to be selective with your reactions and use them purposefully. Avoid randomly reacting to content just for the sake of it. This can come across as strange or fake.

Reserve reactions for content you genuinely want to engage with. Also, consider the context and how a laugh or sad reaction might be perceived.

Be Selective

Only react to posts you genuinely want to engage with, rather than just randomly reacting to any content.

Consider Context

Make sure a reaction like laugh or sad faces makes sense in the context of the post.

Accidentally Double Tapping and Reacting

It’s easy to accidentally double tap on mobile while scrolling and react to a post unintentionally. Here are some tips to avoid this:

Tap gently while scrolling

Double check the post before scrolling more
Adjust your screen sensitivity if needed

If you do accidentally react, just unlike the reaction. You can also turn on confirmation screens in Settings.

Adjust Screen Sensitivity

If your phone screen is too sensitive, try lowering the touch sensitivity setting to avoid accidental double taps.

Use Confirmations

Enable confirmation screens in Settings so you have to confirm reactions before they appear.

Conclusion

Facebook reactions allow you to quickly engage with posts, but what you react to and who can see your reactions depends on several factors. The privacy setting of the original post, your audience, the context, and Facebook’s policies all determine how reactions work.

In general, be selective about reacting, consider who can see it, and use reactions purposefully to engage with friends and show support. With good judgment, reactions can be a fun way to interact on Facebook without concern.