Instagram is the perfect platform for those interested in showcasing the photos and images they create. Instagram can be used as a diary of events and landscapes, or as a carefully selected collection of images that are meaningful to you.
People like to share information about their talents, lives and interests with others, but sometimes privacy becomes a concern. It’s possible to lock your Instagram account so people want to see the beauty they see, but can you tell who viewed your Instagram profile? If someone looks but doesn’t say or comment, can you see who or how many people (or how startled you should feel for that matter)?
Not everyone wants to leave a mark wherever they are online, and not everyone feels the need to say anything every time they look at a profile or Story. Some people figuratively enjoy storefronts without buying or even trying anything, and that’s one of the benefits of the vague sense of anonymity that social networks give us.
You see an image you like, click on it to learn more and find out if the user has anything else that looks like that photo. No damage, no fouls, no chasing. At the same time, Social Media Influencers and others who strictly control their own privacy may be interested in finding out how many people visit their Instagram profiles without a single peep. Here are some tips for finding out who, when and where your Instagram visitors are.
Who viewed your Instagram profile?
If you’re trying to figure out if someone is cyberstalking you, Instagram’s information can’t help. If you want to know because you run a business and want to reach you, this might be helpful.
Currently, there’s no way for a regular, daily, personal Instagram account to tell you how many people have viewed your Stories or profile. The app has no built-in counters and no way for me to do that. So if someone is viewing your profile multiple times a day you will not be notified and there is no way to see who they are.
If you found this article via Google, you may have had to scroll through the many low-rent websites that offer ‘The best ways to see who viewed your Instagram profile’. They all say roughly the same thing. Use this or that app to spy on your own profile and create a list of who visited your profile or looked at your stuff without saying anything.
Most of them don’t work. They’re pointless, like many third-party apps that say they can give you insight into who’s visiting your social media profiles, or show you who lurked but didn’t say hello. There’s nothing to say that Instagram doesn’t track who visits who, but there is currently no mechanism by which an app can learn this.
With it, you can control who views your Instagram Stories. Very simple.
How to See Who Viewed Your Instagram Story
Simply swipe up on your Story, then swipe up. Results will be listed below a snapshot of the Story.
How Can You See How Many People Viewed Your Profile?
The only way to really see who viewed your Instagram profile is to turn it into a professional account. Even then it will only give you numbers, not IDs.
If you switch to a business account, you’ll learn more about your Instagram account, including how many visitors you have. If you absolutely need to see who has viewed your profile or read your Stories, here’s how to do it.
Open Instagram and login, then follow these steps:
- Click on your profile icon.
- Tap on SettingsTap , then Account.
- To choose Switch to Professional Account.
- To choose Business as the type of account you want to set up.
- Follow the prompts and choose Completed when ready.
There are no approval processes or any other hoops to skip. Your Instagram account should now be a business account, which will automatically give you access to Instagram Insights.
On the bright side, you’ll soon be able to see how many people viewed you on Instagram. The downside is that you have to wait seven days to generate enough data to view.
Using Instagram Insights to see who viewed your profile
Instagram Insights contains a lot of data that you should review frequently if you use Instagram as part of your business marketing strategy. One of the things it measures is Impressions, which counts how many times a post has been viewed.
When your business account has been running for a week, you should see a notification at the top of your profile window. It should say something like ‘155 profile views in the last 7 days’. This shows how many people viewed your content on Instagram.
Select the notification and it will show you when you encounter traffic, how many individual visitors you get per day, etc. will show. To find out even more, select “Insights and Audience” and then “Followers” to see the most active times of the day for your Instagram account. If you want to promote content, posting during these most active times will get you the most views and therefore the most activity possible for your business.
If you have a business, the details gathered from Instagram Insights can help you target marketing through your page. Switching to a Business account can give you access to data including popular view times and demographics.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t help much to find out if someone is following you online, and although Instagram offers plenty of privacy features to help you lock content, there’s no real way to see who’s looking at your profile. You’ll never know they’re there unless someone sees your story or interacts with your posts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Can I Do If Someone Is Following Me On Instagram?
Depending on your situation, you can choose to block or report the offending user. If you experience real-life following along with Instagram following, you may want to involve your local law enforcement.
Before blocking the culprit, make sure to take a screenshot of any threats or messages as you will need them later. You can also download all your Instagram data from ‘Settings’ on the website. It’s not a good idea to reply to someone who is off the line, so silently blocking them and making your account private is a good place to start.
Does a Business account know that I am viewing their content?
Not unless it’s a story. While this can increase their engagement (which isn’t good because it’s a misdirection), account admins won’t know who viewed their content.
If you want to maintain a sense of anonymity on Instagram, make sure your privacy and security settings are set to your specifications. You can block any user who harasses you and reports content. Choose a user picture that doesn’t show your face and remember, a strong password is always required!
