By now you've probably noticed the many apps and web services that claim to let you see who is viewing your Facebook profile. Is your ex-student checking up on you, or is someone from work scrolling through photos from your beach vacation? Can you see who views your Facebook? profile with one of these apps?
Unfortunately not. And if you come across these types of apps, Facebook will not only deny that they work, but Facebook will also ask you to report them.
Can Third-Party Apps Really Show Who Viewed Your Profile?
You can be 100 percent sure that any app that says, "See who's viewing your profile!" or "stalker tracker" or something like that is virus-laden junk.
These apps would like you to cough up your Facebook password, otherwise they can install the ability to spam your Facebook friends. In some cases, malicious users can even use their unwanted apps to track your physical address [source: Stellin].
Again, be extremely wary of any services or apps that claim to show you who has viewed your Facebook profile. This functionality violates Facebook's privacy rules.
If you've fallen prey to a suspected stalker app (or any other type of Facebook malware), be sure to read Facebook's instructions for detecting and removing malware.
That said, there are a number of ways to get clues and insights into who's roaming your profile. You won't end up with the definitive list you're probably looking for, but keep reading for tips and tricks that toe - but don't cross! - that fine line between natural curiosity and a huge invasion of privacy.
Statistical trackers and analytics
First, it's important to understand the jargon. There is a big difference between Facebook Pages, Facebook Profiles and Facebook Stories.
Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories were introduced in 2017 as the company's way to counter the immense popularity of Snapchat. Stories are collections of photos and videos from the past 24 hours, and after a day they automatically disappear, in a manner reminiscent of Snapchat.
Users can see who visited their stories and even determine which pieces of content each visitor viewed. Story viewers, beware: we can see you.
Facebook Page Insights
Then there are pages. Mark Zuckerberg & Co. allows company and fan pages to use different types of analytics that allow operators to track page traffic and see where it comes from. Profiles, which are purely intended for social functions, do not do that.
Facebook Insights is the easiest way to get a handle on the traffic on your business or fan pages. Insights tells users the number of people who like their page, how many people see a post, and how many people clicked on the post, among other things.
It's already in the Facebook app directory, so search for it within Facebook and you can install it in a few clicks. The problem for those who want to stalk the stalkers is that the company has imposed a number of limits that are intended to make it more difficult to determine exactly who is viewing and clicking on your page and your messages.
For example, Facebook page insights are only available for pages with more than 30 likes and only provide demographic information once at least 30 visitors from the demographic group have visited the page or post. There's also a 48-hour delay in the information provided, meaning you can't use it to find out who's looking at your page, for example straight away.
Basic third-party analytics for your Facebook page
If you want more in-depth analytics for your Facebook Page, you'll have to get a little creative. One place to go for analytics is outside data monitoring sites like Webtrends.
Simply create an account and Webtrends will return somewhat detailed analytics on the number and type of people viewing your Facebook page.
With a little patience, you can also install the gold standard of web tracking services, Google Analytics. This bad boy allows users to obtain finite data, such as date, time and location, about visitors to their pages.
But you can't identify an individual person viewing your page because IP addresses (which are as close as possible to a user ID number) are constantly changing. It's therefore unlikely that the person you're looking for will have the same address every time he or she views your Facebook Stories.
First create a Google Analytics account and then add a new profile for your Facebook page. This requires a number of steps to integrate Google Analytics with the page in question. The good news is that Google has been kind enough to provide detailed instructions on how to do that, as well as how to use tracking services on other social networks like X (formerly known as Twitter).
Drive engagement with your Facebook profile
It's not the most precise method, but sometimes if you're willing to put in some work you can get a casual approach to people who power view your profile. The simple trick is to post in a more intentional way to increase engagement.
Suppose you've come across an interesting scientific discovery or strange news story; the kind of things that can be found all over the internet every day. It can be a neutral but interesting post, or it can be something provocative.
Wait a moment and then see who's looking. Chances are, if it's someone who doesn't view your stories all the time, he or she has also viewed your profile.
Novelty is one of the most valuable commodities on the internet, so an interesting Facebook story is more likely to lead to a visit to your profile than a regular photo or video.
Analyze Facebook apps
Developers know there's a market for Facebook apps that let you see who's viewing your profile. And they also know that Facebook has strict privacy rules that prohibit this. So many developers follow this line, taking you to the edge of something resembling factual knowledge.
Advanced methods
Typing the word "statistics" into the Facebook app directory will bring up a long list of traffic tracking apps, similar to Facebook Insights. Most are not that good.
But you'll find a rotating and ever-growing list of gems that do things like mine your posts for the words you use most. Just keep one important point in mind: these apps also mine your profile for interaction.
When someone "likes" a post from you or otherwise interacts with your profile, these apps know and may be able to build models of your most active friends. But if there's just an ex-boyfriend sneaking around on your profile, there's no way you can tell, so don't believe the apps that tell you otherwise.
You can bet that app developers are constantly pushing Facebook to find solutions that take you past Facebook privacy rules, and every now and then a developer finds a breach. When this happens, an app that actually returns interesting information about your profile views typically has a ticking lifespan, which ends when Facebook finds out and shuts it down.
The story of Breakup Notifier
Take Breakup Notifier, for example, which claimed, "You like someone. They're in a relationship. Be the first to know when they're no longer in a relationship." The app worked by finding out the relationship statuses of your friends.
In 36 hours it attracted 700,000 visits and more than 3.6 million users [sources: Heussner, Tsotsis]. And then, poof, within a week it was gone, squashed like a grape under Facebook's stiletto heel, which blocked the app.
If you keep your eyes open, you might come across the next banned app before it gets banned. Until then, learn to live with the fact that - definitively, finally, and with an exclamation point - you can't see who's stalking you on Facebook, and that's the final word straight from the Zuckerberg team.
Much more information
Author's Note: How to See Who Views Your Facebook Profile
Call us crazy, but we'll go a step further and say that at least some of the people who go to Google looking for information on how to find out who has viewed a particular Facebook page aren't doing so because they want. know who is 'stalking' them, but because they want to be able to 'stalk' other people on the social network with impunity.
Although some people have speculated that regular visits to a profile make your name appear more often in the user's "Find Friends" section and you are more likely to appear in the search toolbar if the person happens to type the first few letters of your name, these claims have never been proven.
