One of the most popular and widely used social networks in the world is Facebook (Meta). Although today there are many more options, millions of users still connect to this site every day to update their profiles, consult information and news, chat, or any other action. Something that may get you curious is discovering who is visiting your Facebook profile, so here we tell you all about it to learn an effective method to do so.
How to find out who visits my Facebook profile
Let's start by telling you that there is no native method within Facebook to know who visits your profile, so the matter is somewhat complicated, unlike what happens in other social networks such as LinkedIn, which does keep track of users who visit your profile and even notifies you. However, there are several tips and tricks you can use to somewhat control visits.
Use source code to see who visits my profile
Let's start with the method that really works, even if it is somewhat complex, and then, we will go into other aspects to consider if we want to reduce the number of users that can see our profile and publications, for example. We are talking about the method of accessing the source code of our Facebook page, something that will give you the information you are looking for when it comes to getting the identification of those users of the social network that have visited your profile. You will not be able to know when the visit occurred, so this is a problem, nor will you have a convenient list of all users, but you will be able to see them one by one in a truthful way.
The first step to finding what you want in the source code is to open your Facebook profile in the browser (on a computer) and once there, right-click with the mouse on any section of the page. Several options will be displayed and the one you are interested in is "View page source code". A method to do this in a more agile way is to press "Control + U" on the keyboard or F12, something that we recommend you to shortcut this first step.
Doing so will open a tab with the HTML code of the page. There is a lot of text, but what you are interested in is to press the key combination "Control + F" to search in the search bar that appears: BUDDY_ID.
Search for BUDDY_ID in Facebook’s source code to find out who has viewed your profile
You will find this command repeated several times in the HTML of the page and the series of numbers next to it corresponds to the Facebook profile of the user who visited you. Each code corresponds to a unique user, so if you want to find out who it is, simply copy that number (by double-clicking on it + Control/C) and paste it after "Facebook.com/" in your browser's web address box.
By doing this you will be able to reach the specific profile of the person who has visited your profile. It is an effective but somewhat slow method, since you have to go one by one checking the numbers that appear in the HTML next to BUDDY_ID. In addition, please note that it is not possible to know when your profile has been visited, only by whom.
Using publication control
On the other hand, the way to control who can see the posts you upload to your Facebook profile is to choose the type of users who can see them: everyone, your friends, friends of friends, and so on. This option does not let you find out who has seen each post, but it does limit who can see it. Every time you upload a post to Facebook, you will be shown a drop-down menu where you can choose between the following options:
- Public: anyone on and off Facebook
- Friends: your Facebook friends
- Friends, except: you can select which friends' accounts will not see this publication.
- Specific friends: select the users who can see that publication.
- Only me: restricted to your own account only
Remember that this can be modified in any publication you have already published. All you have to do is select the three dots in the upper right corner of the specific publication and from there click on "Edit privacy" to display the options mentioned above.
Control the privacy of your posts to choose who can view them on Facebook
Of all the available options, the "Specific friends" option is the one that will best serve your purpose of controlling who sees what you publish, as you can choose specifically those users to whom you want to give access to your publications.
Other methods to find out who has visited your Facebook profile
Beyond the above-mentioned, there is nothing too effective for knowing and controlling who visits your Facebook profile beyond reviewing your friend’s list (with the possibility of deleting or blocking who you want). However, below, we explain other possible (or not) methods and why they are more or less recommended.
Use of external applications
It is important to mention that there are several apps external to Facebook that promise to show you exactly who visits your profile on the social network, but their use is not recommended, as they are usually full of spam or could even steal our data if they are unreliable applications. You will be asked for access to your Facebook profile and considering that this is where you store important data and information about yourself, we do not recommend granting such permissions to unknown or suspicious apps.
Using a link shortener
Another method is to use a Google address shortener and place your Facebook profile URL there. With the link obtained, you will be able to know the people who click on it thanks to the information provided by the shortener's own website. An example of a website that offers this option is Grabify.
Use a URL shortener to control who clicks on the link to your Facebook profile
To find out who has entered your profile, simply go to the page again, paste the link into the search bar, and click on Tracking Code to get the information you are looking for at the bottom of Results. However, it is restricted only to those who have visited your Facebook profile through that particular link.
How to see who logs in to your profile from your account
Finally, the last option is to check if someone outside of you has connected to your Facebook account and visited your profile, something that could be a mistake because you have shared your credentials with someone you trust or a security problem to be taken into account. To find out if someone is accessing from your own account, go to Facebook and click on the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner of the screen and on the gear.
Access the Settings and Configuration section of your Facebook profile
From there, click on the Security and Passwords tab (the second one from the top, in the Account section) to display all the options related to the security of your Facebook account.
Access the Security and Passwords section of your Facebook profile
Finally, check that the "Where You're Logged In" section only shows the devices (PC, smartphones, tablets, others) that you are connected to. If there are any additional ones that you do not control, you may discover that someone else is connected to your account.
Check on which devices your Facebook account is active at this very moment
Although this last method does not let you know who is visiting your Facebook profile from your own account, it does give you some details about the device they are connected to, something that can provide clues to finding out for yourself.
