Almost every company these days seems to feel the need to use Snapchat’s story feature for their app, but no organization is more guilty of this than Facebook. The social networking giant didn’t just put the story feature on Instagram; They’ve added it to Facebook, Messenger, and even WhatsApp. Although Facebook has shrunk the stories feature a bit, it continues to bring other features to the platform for those who want to use FB Story without installing Snapchat or Instagram.
Of course, if you’ve never used FB Story, you might be confused about how it works. That’s why we’re going to show you not only how to see who has viewed your Facebook stories, but also how to post stories. Lets start!
How Facebook Stories Work
If you post a Facebook story, it will appear at the top of your News Feed. If your friends post a story, their profile picture will appear there. Stories you haven’t watched yet will have a blue circle around them and not ones you’ve seen. Select their profile picture to view their stories and it will play in the Facebook app. You can view and continue or send a Direct Message from within the window.
Unlike the rest of the network, Facebook Stories do not include comments, likes or other interactions. Your only option is to message the person directly via Messenger.
How to Create a Facebook Story
If you want to get in on the action and haven’t used FB Stories before, it only takes a few seconds to create one. Here’s how to do this on Facebook.
- Open the Facebook app on your phone and select the camera icon.
- Take a picture or record a video.
- Select the little wand icon in the bottom left to add an effect.
- choose Share now once to upload to Facebook.
Your Facebook Story will stay live for 24 hours just like Snapchat’s versions. People can see this and message you as they see fit.
See Who Viewed Your Facebook Story
If you want to see who has viewed your Facebook Story, the social site has added this feature so businesses can monitor the reach of their stories so individuals can see which of their friends are interested and which are not. Here’s how to do it.
- Open your story in the Facebook app.
- Look for the eye icon in the lower left corner of the screen.
- Select that icon to see who has viewed your story.
Depending on your privacy settings, you may see Friends, Connections, and Random with Friends at the top. Either way, you can see exactly who viewed your story and when.
How to Add Effects to Your Facebook Story
Facebook Stories comes with a host of effects and basic editing options that you can use before sharing your story. These are the usual stickers and emojis as well as a few neat features like polls, location, tags and more. You can access these effects from the camera.
- Open the Facebook app on your phone and select the camera icon.
- Take a picture or record a video.
- Select the little wand icon in the bottom left to add an effect.
- Click “AATo add text to the ” icon.
- Select the face icon at the top to add a location, music, poll or anything else you want.
Facebook Stories has dozens of options. Most are accessible from the two icons at the top and the wand icon at the bottom. click Save and Share now once finished just to do it.
Control Who Views Your Facebook Story
The same privacy options you get with Facebook updates or posts are available in Facebook Stories. You can control who sees what by configuring it before sharing.
- Select the down arrow next to Your Story.
- Choose “people”“Friends and Connections,” or “Only friends“Also a”Tradition” option if you need it.
- choose Share once ready.
Like other Facebook settings, the “Public” setting makes your story publicly available. The “Friends & Connections” setting limits your story to only people who know you, and “Friends Only” is only for people who are “friends” with you. The Private option is a named list where you can choose who sees your story.
You can change these settings even after your story is published.
- choose Your story from within the application.
- Select the three-dot menu icon and then Edit Story Settings.
- Change the setting as above and Save.
This is the basics of Facebook Story. It’s a simple feature that adds another dimension to the social network, even if it’s an “obvious” copy of someone else’s idea!
