When you post a story on Facebook, you may be wondering who exactly can see it. Facebook’s privacy settings allow you to control the audience for your posts, but things can sometimes get confusing. This article will examine who can view your Facebook stories and how to adjust your settings accordingly.
Your Entire Friends List
By default, a story you post on Facebook is visible to all of your friends. This includes close friends, acquaintances from high school, coworkers, and anyone else you’ve added as a friend on Facebook.
When you post a new story, pay attention to the audience selector underneath. It will likely say “Friends” with a globe icon next to it. This means all of your friends will be able to see the post in their news feeds.
Things to Consider
- Posting to your entire friends list allows you to maximally share with people you know. It’s an easy way to keep all friends updated.
- However, some stories you post may be more appropriate for just close friends rather than every single Facebook friend. Consider if you want coworkers, distant relatives, or other casual connections seeing the post.
Friends Except Acquaintances
If you don’t want every Facebook friend seeing your post, you can exclude acquaintances.
Facebook considers an “acquaintance” to be someone you may have added as a friend but don’t necessarily know very well. They are people outside your core friend group.
To post something visible to friends except acquaintances:
- Click the audience selector underneath your post.
- Choose the option “Friends Except Acquaintances.”
This will make your post visible to close friends while excluding looser connections.
Things to Consider
- Great for sharing content you only want close friends to see.
- Your acquaintances won’t see the post or be notified about it.
- You may not actually know who Facebook has defined as an “acquaintance.”
A Specific Friend List
For precise control, you can post stories and limit them to a specific customized list of friends.
To do this:
- Go to your Facebook Friends page
- Create a list and add the friends you want to it
- When posting, choose to share with only people on that list
For example, you could make a “Close Friends” list with just your very closest buddies. Any posts you share to that list would only be visible to those hand-selected friends.
Things to Consider
- Let’s you exclusively share with your inner circle.
- You’ll have to manually add and remove people from the list when your friendships change.
- Requires more work than the default options.
Only Me
Want to post something just for your eyes only? Choose the “Only Me” option when posting.
This keeps the story completely private. It will not show up in any news feeds and no one else will be able to see it.
Things to Consider
- Allows you to use Facebook like a personal journal.
- Lets you post things you don’t want anyone else seeing.
- Can be confusing to others who wonder why you don’t share more posts.
Friends and Specific Groups
If you belong to any Facebook groups, you also have the option to share a post with friends plus those groups.
For example, you may want to share a silly story with friends and your book club group but no one else. To do this:
- Select “Friends and Groups…” when posting.
- Check the boxes next to the groups you want to include.
This will share the post with your friends as well as the group members you selected.
Things to Consider
- Lets you easily share content relevant to specific groups.
- You may share too much irrelevant information with the groups.
- Some groups have thousands of members who will now see your post.
Public
Facebook allows you to make posts completely public if you want to share them with the entire world.
To do this, simply choose the “Public” option when posting your story. This makes it visible to all 2.8 billion Facebook users plus anyone online who comes across it.
Things to Consider
- Reaches the maximum possible audience.
- Lacks privacy — strangers will see it.
- May not be appropriate unless you’re a public figure.
How to Change the Default Audience
If you find yourself frequently posting to a specific audience like only close friends, you can make that group the default for all your posts.
To change your default post audience:
- Go to your Facebook settings.
- Click “Privacy.”
- Find “Default privacy for posts” and edit as desired.
This will make your chosen audience the default for all new posts moving forward.
Things to Consider
- Saves time since you won’t have to adjust the audience every time.
- Can post accidentally to a broader group than intended if you’re not careful.
- Important to periodically review and confirm your default setting.
Limiting Who Can See Your Past Posts
All of your existing Facebook posts were shared using previous privacy settings you’ve had in place. It’s possible that some old posts are visible to a broader audience than you’d like.
To change who can see your past posts:
- Go to your Facebook Activity Log.
- Click “Your Posts.”
- For each post, use the audience selector to adjust who can view it.
This allows you to retroactively change the privacy on old posts. You can limit them to friends, friends except acquaintances, only me, or custom friend lists if desired.
Things to Consider
- Allows you to take back some privacy on past posts.
- Can be time consuming if you have a lot of old content to review.
- People may have already seen and interacted with the posts.
Conclusion
Facebook offers powerful options for controlling who sees the stories you share. By default posts go to all friends, but it only takes a few clicks to limit stories to specific groups or even just yourself.
As you share on Facebook, periodically check your privacy settings and audiences. Make sure sensitive stories are only going to close friends who you want seeing that content.
With the right settings, you can comfortably share stories transparently with your closest social circle or privately with no one else.
| Audience | Who Can See | How to Set |
|---|---|---|
| Friends | All Facebook friends | Default audience or choose “Friends” in menu |
| Friends Except Acquaintances | Close friends only | Choose “Friends Except Acquaintances” in menu |
| Specific Friend List | Only people on the list you specify | Create list and select it in menu |
| Only Me | Just you, completely private | Choose “Only Me” in menu |
| Friends and Groups | Your friends plus group members you select | Choose “Friends and Groups…” in menu |
| Public | Anyone online | Choose “Public” in menu |