How to see who follows you on Facebook? – manage your followers and control what they can see

Facebook has always been primarily a platform for connecting with friends and families. So, initially, they could not follow someone. You could add friends, or you could like pages. But later on after the popularity of the microblogging platform Twitter (now X), Facebook also adopted the feature. 

However, the follower feature was always more of an afterthought. Even now, it’s a bit confusing for a lot of people. While you still have the ability to add friends and like pages, the purpose of the following feature may seem a bit unclear to some. Also, while locating your friends is easy, you might be wondering where your followers are. We’re going to cover all that here. 

What Are Facebook Followers and How Do They Work?

Facebook followers are people who follow your public updates without necessarily being your friends. When you accept a friend request, that person also becomes a follower. However, your friends won’t appear as your followers. So, how does this whole thing work?

Anyone who wants to see your posts on their feed must follow you. Most of your friends automatically follow you. But if the feature is enabled, people outside your friend list can also follow you. Now, your friends will get to see your friends only or custom posts if they’re not restricted. However, followers outside your friend list can only see your public posts. 

Unlike platforms like X or Instagram, where two people have to follow each other to connect, it’s not the same on Facebook. Here, you must be friends to connect. And the followers feature is particularly useful for creators, influencers, or businesses looking to engage with a broader audience without adding everyone to their friends list.

How to See Who Follows You on Facebook?

If you can’t find your list of followers, don’t worry. It’s actually very easy to locate. Here’s how:

On Desktop:

  1. Open a browser, visit Facebook, and log in.
  2. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner or your name in the left-side menu.
  3. On your profile, go to the Friends tab. 
  4. Within the Friends tab, select the Followers tab to see the list of people following you.
  5. Alternatively, you can also click More at the right side of the tabs and select Followers from the drop down menu. 

On Mobile:

  • Make sure your app is up to date. 
  • Open the Facebook app and log in if needed.
  • Tap your profile picture or the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines), then select your name.
  • Scroll down and tap See Your About Info. 
  • Next to the Followers section, tap See All to view your followers.

Why Can’t I See My Facebook Followers?

There are four possible reasons we can think of why you might not be seeing any followers on Facebook.

If you don’t have followers, you won’t see any. If your account is new, or you can kept things private on your account, chances are, you won’t get any followers for a while. However people who send you friend requests, automatically show up as followers, until you accept their requests.

Also, if you have decided to lock your Facebook account, you may not be able to see or get new followers. As locked Facebook profiles hide all content from non-friends, it makes sense to not have public followers.

Talking about public followers, you can restrict people outside of your friend list from following you. If you have done that, you might not see a follower list.

Now this last one is the least likely to happen. But outdated apps and browsers can sometimes cause glitches preventing you from seeing your followers..

Who Can Follow You on Facebook?

Facebook allows two kinds of people to follow you. Those who are already your friends and those who aren’t. 

Now once someone accepts your friend request, or sends you one, they automatically before your follower. However people on your friend list won’t show up as followers on your follower list. So by default your friends are your followers. And if you ever decide to turn on professional mode and make your followers list public, your friends will show up as your public followers.

However, public followers are different. People who choose to follow you using the follow button on your profile are primarily your Public followers. Moreover, if someone sends you a friend request and you keep it pending, they automatically become your public follower if the option for public followers is enabled in settings. 

How to Control Who Can Follow You?

If you don’t want just about anyone to follow you on Facebook, you can control that entirely. 

On Desktop:

  1. Log into Facebook from a web browser.
  2. Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner
  3. From the drop down menu, select Settings & Privacy and then Settings.
  4. Click followers and public content in the left menu. 
  5. Under who can follow me, choose Public or Friends.

On Mobile:

  1. Make sure the Facebook app is updated to the latest version on your phone.
  2. Open the App.
  3. From the hamburger menu on the top or bottom-left, go to Settings & Privacy and then tap Settings.
  4. Tap on followers and public content.
  5. Click on who can follow me and select either Public or Friends.

Who Can See Your Followers on Facebook?

By default, your followers list is public. However, you can restrict who sees it. Here’s how you do it:

On Desktop:

  1. Open Facebook on a desktop web browser.
  2. From the top right corner, click on your profile picture and go to Settings.
  3. Navigate to Settings & Privacy and Settings.
  4. Go to followers and public content.
  5. Look for who can see your followers on your timeline? 
  6. Set it to Public, Friends, or Only Me.

On Mobile:

  1. Make sure your Facebook app is updated to the latest version.
  2. Open the Facebook App.
  3. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
  4. Locate followers and public content.
  5. Scroll to who can see your followers on your timeline? and choose your preferred privacy setting.

Can You Remove Followers on Facebook?

Unlike Instagram, Facebook doesn’t allow you to directly remove followers. However, you can block someone to remove them from your followers list and then unblock them. 

  1. Log into Facebook using a browser or the mobile app.
  2. Locate the search button.
  3. Type in the name of the person you want to block.
  4. Locate their profile and click on it. 
  5. On their profile, below the cover photo, you will find a button with three dots on the right side. Click on it.
  6. Tap on Block and confirm.

Tips for Managing Your Facebook Followers

If you want to maintain a good presence and grow on Facebook you must manage your followers properly. Here are a few tips on how you can do that. 

  • Engage with your followers regularly. That means, reply to comments and messages promptly. This will allow you to build a stronger connection with your audience.
  • Share engaging content alongside your regular updates. This will help you get more engagements from your followers. That includes likes, comments, and more importantly shares. This will improve your reach and help you gaim more followers.
  • You should also monitor your privacy settings regularly to make sure you feel comfortable with what your followers can see. 
  • And if you ever notice any suspicious activities such as people spamming links or your comments, or using profane language, don’t be afraid to block them. This will help maintain a safer community online. 

Wrapping Up

Knowing how to see and manage your Facebook followers is very important for maintaining a solid online presence. At the same time, Facebook is also a place for close friends and loved ones. So it’s importantly that you can control who sees what. Moreover, your follower list doesn’t necessarily have to be visible to everyone. Thankfully Facebook has enough privacy features that let you control all of it. 

Related articles:
Is Facebook safe
How to deactivate your Facebook account
How to delete watched videos on facebook
How to see who is stalking your Facebook profile