Can you see who viewed your Facebook profile

‍

As one of the most widely-used social media platforms in the world, Facebook has gone through tens of updates and changes over the years. These changes bring new features and privacy options to improve the safety and experience of the user. Many users often wonder if they can find out who sees their profile. In this article, we'll look at this inquiry, clear up any misunderstanding, and go over Facebook's most recent answer to who can see whose picture.  

‍

The Truth: You Can't Track Who Looks at Your Profile

The short answer? No. Facebook does not give users a tool to actually see who looks at their profile. That said, many are always interested in knowing if there is some trick or hidden way that provides this information. Unfortunately, there isn't. And while it might sound appealing to know who is visiting your personal page, Facebook purposely does not give you that information.

‍

Why can't we see how to view our Facebook profile?

Facebook is taking this information private for the users' safety. The company seeks to shield users from potential stalking, harassment, or unwanted attention that could take place if everyone could see what profiles someone was viewing. Furthermore, giving users access to who is viewing their profiles would create serious privacy and ethical issues, so that's why the information is restricted.

Facebook's algorithm is set in such a way that people can only engage with likes, comments, and shares, as opposed to tracking who visits someone's profile. Therefore, the social platform cares more about who interacts with your posts than just viewing your posts.

‍

The Only Exception: Facebook Stories and Instagram Stories

While you can't know who has viewed your main profile, Facebook has a little visibility through its "Stories" feature. When you post a Story to Facebook (or Instagram, since Facebook owns Instagram), you can see who has viewed your story. It only lasts 24 hours but gives you a glimpse of the people who have seen your content in real-time. Note that views are only on Stories, not for your main profile or photo albums.

‍

Third party apps

There are numerous third-party apps and sites who may claim to show you, who views your Facebook profile. The apps may have features like "Profile Viewers" or "Profile Analytics" to entice users to behave in certain ways. The reality is, there are a number of things to be careful of. Many of these apps can be scams, to steal personal information. Some apps may even ask for your Facebook Login, which the login threatens your security and data entirely.This is why it is suggested that you don't trust any app that plans to report who views your profile. Facebook's position is still that they do not endorse third-party apps to do this. If you see an app that "claims" to do this on it's landing page, beware.

‍

Facebook Privacy Settings: Controlling Who Sees Your Profile

Even though we cannot view how is looking at our profile because Facebook provides the privacy constraints to keep the data safe from unauthorization. Facebook provides many privacy settings to manage who can see your information.

‍

Here are a few options you can utilize:

Setting Profile Privacy: You can decide who sees your profile at a high level by setting it to "Friends" only or customizing your audience.

Post Privacy: You can also select a setting for each of your posts and can set each post to public or friends and select an audience.

Activity Log (Who Cared): If you want to see what people have engaged with on your profile, you can look through the Activity Log, but it only shows your engagement, not who viewed your profile.

Conclusion:

To sum up, you are not able to find out who views your Facebook profile. While there are third-party apps available that say they can provide that information, those are probably scams as well and you should stay away from using them. That being said, Facebook now has a number of privacy settings to help you control who views your posts and your profile. If you're just trying to see who engages with your posts you may be able to view some of that information because the Stories feature will give a little insight to some who may be engaging with your posts.

In the end, the most effective way to protect your privacy while using Facebook is to periodically check your privacy settings, be careful about sharing personal information, and avoid third-party applications that could compromise the security of your account.

‍

Got a passion for tech and innovation? Share your insights with our audience! Write for Us and become a contributor.