Privacy is a serious consideration for all social media platforms, including Facebook.
These platforms do their best to give their users enough choice about who can see or interact with their content.
As an account owner, you may want to know who views your posts, pictures, or videos.
However, the viewers may want the platform to respect their privacy and not disclose their actions.
Therefore, you may be wondering whether or not Facebook shows who views your videos.
Does Facebook Show Who Views Your Videos?
No, Facebook doesn’t show the identities or the usernames of those who viewed your videos for different reasons.
One reason is privacy.
Facebook doesn’t let you see who viewed your videos to protect the privacy of its users and give them an appropriate level of anonymity.
This way, users can’t see their followers’ or friends’ activities on Facebook unless they want to.
People can show you their activities by interacting with your content.
In addition, showing users who viewed their videos requires massive resources on Facebook’s side, especially for boosted videos that may get thousands of viewers.
That means they must collect huge amounts of data, requiring a complex data-gathering system.
This limitation is the same for both individual and business accounts.
The only time you can see your video’s viewers is when you Livestream your video and can see who joins the stream.
You can also see the number of viewers each of your videos gets.
If you have a specific person in mind who you want to see your video, you can take more direct actions and send them the video via Facebook Messenger or tag them under the post.
On the other hand, if you want to watch a specific user’s videos without them knowing, go ahead and do that because they can’t see who viewed their post.
How To Check Facebook Video Viewers
Facebook doesn’t show you who watched your videos.
In that case, if you had a specific person in mind who you want to see your videos, there’s no direct way of knowing that.
However, you’re not out of luck.
1. Use Workarounds
You can look at other activities and interactions with your video and draw conclusions accordingly.
For example, you can see who has liked your video, left comments below your post, or shared it.
You can also check if the person you’re following is active when you post the video.
That said, these workarounds won’t give you precise information about who viewed your video.
For starters, people may view your video but don’t interact with it in any way.
In addition, if a person isn’t online when you post a video, it doesn’t mean they’ll never view it.
Also, some users hide their active status from other users for privacy.
Therefore, you can only use these methods as tools that may help you draw conclusions that aren’t necessarily accurate.
2. Post Stories
Unlike videos posted in your feed, Facebook lets you see who has viewed your stories.
You can post your video on your Stories and keep track of the people who view it.
If your account is public, you may even see the viewers who aren’t on your Friends list.
You can set up your account to determine who can view your stories: Friends, Public, or Custom.
However, Stories come with limitations.
Since stories are designed to keep viewers engaged, they must be short.
Each video story has to be 20 seconds or shorter.
If your video is longer than 20 seconds, Facebook will split it into smaller 20-second pieces.
If it’s too long, it’ll miss the whole point of Stories and may create an undesirable experience for your followers, leading to their complete disinterest.
Still, you can reshare the video post in your stories and see who views them.
3. Livestream
Although going live isn’t always convenient, it’s a great way to see who views your videos.
When you go live on Facebook, you can see who joins your session and how long they stay.
However, this option is also not viable for many situations.
Firstly, you may not always post the videos you’ve created on Facebook.
They may belong to other creators, and you’re simply sharing them by giving credit to the original creator.
In such cases, going live can’t help you see the viewers because you’re the one who talks and creates the video when you go live.
Plus, you can see your viewers only as long as you’re live streaming.
The list of viewers will also stop when you finish the live video.
As a result, you can’t keep count of the viewers and refer to them whenever you need to.
Finally, you can only see viewers already on your Friends list.
If your page is public and users who aren’t your friends join your live stream, you can only see them if they like or comment.
Otherwise, you can’t see them.
In any case, you can see different metrics about your live video after it’s ended and uploaded to your page as an offline video.
To see these stats, go to your profile and select the video.
Click Live Broadcast Audience to see two key stats: Peak Concurrent Viewers and Viewers During Live Broadcast.
The first option shows the time of the video when you had the highest number of viewers.
The second stat gives you an overall presentation of the viewers from the beginning to the end.
4. Use Third-Party Apps
You can bypass many Facebook restrictions by using third-party apps or browser extensions that help grow your audience and improve your account.
These apps show who viewed your stories and other stats related to your post, followers, and account.
However, not all of these apps are trustworthy, and you need to be extra cautious when using them.
They require you to provide your account credentials, which can pose serious security threats.
Generally speaking, using third-party apps and linking them to your Facebook account isn’t recommended unless you’re certain of their security.
5. Use Privacy Settings
You may want to know who viewed your Facebook video for privacy reasons.
For example, you don’t want a specific person to watch your video whether they’re in your Friends list or not.
In such cases, you can adjust your privacy settings and select who can view your video.
To do so, go to your Facebook page and find the video you’ve posted.
Click on the three horizontal dots in the top right corner and select Edit Audience.
You’ll have different options, but you can also determine the exact people you want to see your video.
Here’s a pro tip!
If you have a specific person in mind who you wish to see your post, add them to the customized list.
This way, the viewers’ list is limited, and you can guess who viewed your video.
For example, if you add one person to the list, you can be sure they’ve watched your video if you check the number of viewers.
How To Check The Number Of Viewers
As mentioned, instead of showing who viewed your video, Facebook only lets you see the number of viewers.
This information is readily available for everyone to see—the account owner and the followers.
Just like everyone can see the number of likes, comments, and shares under public posts, the number of viewers is also known to the public.
Interestingly, the algorithms count each user’s view only once.
That means if a user views your video more than once, Facebook will only count it once.
That’s the most straightforward way of knowing who viewed your Facebook video.
However, Facebook shows you different stats about your posts to get a better idea of the performance of your posts.
Facebook Insights
“Insights” is part of Facebook’s analytical tools available for business pages.
It’s accessible through the Creator Studio section.
You can see lots of useful information and stats about your posts, including how long they were viewed, how many likes they got, who commented on your post, and the reach they received.
The Insights section differs from the stats under your posts because you can see their trends.
For example, you can see how likes increased and decreased during different times or how your videos affected your page visits.
In addition, it can give you helpful information about your page demographics.
It shows which locations your followers come from, allowing you to tailor your content to these demographics.
You can also see helpful metrics for your Stories.
For example, if you reshare your video in Stories, you can see who swiped up to go to the post and watch your video through “Swipe-up Actions.”
Other Things That Facebook Doesn’t Show
1. Profile Views
It’s tempting to know who has viewed your profile.
However, Facebook doesn’t disclose this information.
Similarly, if you secretly go through a person’s profile, you don’t need to worry about them finding out about that.
However, Facebook users can decide who can or can’t view their profiles.
If you want to determine what others can see in your profile, go to your Facebook account and click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Profile and tagging.
In this section, you can see different parts of your profile that people can see.
Click the button next to each option and select the people you wish to allow to see those sections of your profile.
2. Who Reported You
Reporting posts and accounts is a security measure found on most social media platforms to respect members’ rights defined in community standards.
If you think a Facebook post is against their guidelines, you can report it to the platform’s help center.
However, you don’t need to worry about your identity.
Your actions and messages are confidential, and the account owner will never learn who reported them.
The only cases when they will be informed are when you report their posts or accounts for copyright infringement.
In addition, if you report a post inside a Facebook group, the admin will be notified of the report and can see the reporter.
The group admin can decide whether to keep the post or delete it.
3. When Someone Screenshots Your Story
You know that Facebook stories are fleeting and can only last 24 hours.
If someone finds your story interesting, they can screenshot it to keep it.
Some social media platforms, such as Snapchat, may notify the account owner when someone screenshots their stories, but Facebook doesn’t.
4. Your Location
Location is one of the most crucial pieces of security data social media users prefer to keep secret.
Although Facebook can track your location, it doesn’t show it in your profile or posts unless you choose to.
If users share their locations in posts, messages, hashtags, or through Nearby Friends, it’s easy to find their location.
However, you can adjust your privacy settings to keep your location unknown.
In addition, you can restrict Facebook’s access to your location by turning off Location Services in the mobile app.
Still, Facebook can find your location (although not exactly) through your IP address and other activities related to specific places.
For example, if you keep posting content or events related to one place, Facebook will estimate your location.
They use it to customize your content and deliver more targeted ads.
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