Can You See Who Viewed A Facebook Video? It Depends!

• You can’t see who watched a Facebook video unless they engaged with it (commented or liked it); you can only see the number of views. • If you’re doing a Facebook live broadcast, you can only see who’s viewing it while you’re live and who joined the live stream afterward. • For Facebook stories, you can see who or how many viewed them.

How to see the number of video views

If you’re using Facebook as a social site to keep in touch with your family and friends, you can still see the number of Facebook users who’ve watched your videos.

Remember that for a Facebook video to be registered as a view, it has to have a watch time of at least 3 seconds.

1. Open your Facebook profile page.
2. Go to Videos.
3. Below (desktop) or next to (mobile app) each of your videos, you can see the number of likes, comments, and total video views.

If you have a Meta business profile, it’s still impossible to see the name of the person who watched your videos (unless they engaged directly with them), but you can still see the total number of video views.

The video metrics also show statistics for audience retention (how long the viewers watch the video), unique views, organic vs. paid reach, the age, gender, and country of your viewers, and more.

You might also be interested in YouTube vs. Vimeo for Business. Which One Should You Choose?

How to see who watches your Facebook Live Videos

Live videos are different from posting videos to your FB profile. Live streaming lets you see who is watching, commenting, and liking the video in real time.

However, when the live stream is over, the recorded stream will be transformed and viewed as regular video content.

You can re-watch the Facebook Live video and see the total views and engagement. However, you can not see who viewed it anymore.

Facebook stories

Facebook Stories is a daily “snack” about your life that you share with your friends. As a standard, a story is only available for 24 hours.

It is possible to see who viewed your Facebook story as well. Here’s how to do it in a few simple steps:

1. Go to your Facebook Story
2. Click on the list of people who have viewed your story (bottom left corner)

Now, you’ll see a full list of those who have seen your Facebook story.

Remember, you can always revisit a story in your archive. You can also feature a specific story on your page.

What do ‘Other Viewers’ on your Facebook Story mean?

You might see Other Viewers on the list of people who have watched your Facebook Story. Other Viewers are views from Facebook users not on your friends list.

Other viewers will only appear if you’ve set your story to Public and someone not on your friend’s list has watched your video.

By default, all Facebook Stories are set to ‘Friends only.’ This is the opposite of Facebook Reels, which is set to Public first.

You can always change this also from your Facebook account:

1. Tap the three little menu dots on your Facebook profile
2. Tap ‘View Privacy Shortcuts’
3. Tap ‘Review a few important privacy settings.’
4. Tap ‘Who can see what you share.’
5. Tap ‘continue’
6. Tap ‘next’
7. Under ‘Stories,’ choose who can watch your stories.

Now you can choose who should be allowed to watch your FB story: friends (FB friends only), public (friends, followers, people you chatted with on messenger), or custom (you can select who can watch it).

Changing your privacy settings for a story will also affect all active and future stories. However, you can always change it again.

Also, if you post a story on a public business page you manage, it is automatically made public.

Up Next: How to share a YouTube video on Instagram Story.