Understanding Facebook Story View Notifications and Privacy Settings

When using Facebook, it can be concerning to know if someone is aware that you viewed their story. This article aims to clarify the dynamics of how these interactions are recorded and what settings can help maintain privacy. Let's break down the scenario in detail to ensure you're fully informed about the functionalities of Facebook.

Does the Person Know if I Viewed Their Facebook Story?

The short answer is that it depends on the specific circumstances. If you view a Facebook story and block the person afterwards, the answer is no, they won't see that you viewed their story. However, there is an important exception to be aware of.

The Role of Story Mute

When you mute someone on Facebook, you are essentially removing their ability to directly interact with your stories. However, muting a person does not remove their ability to see whom has viewed their story. This is often a common misconception.

Story Mute does not Remove the Ability to be seen under the Viewers List.

Even if you mute someone, you can still find them in the list of viewers. Facebook will often show the last person to view a story, and if you are one of the recent viewers, it will be visible to the story owner. This can be troubling, especially if the person is someone whom you would prefer to keep your viewing habits private.

Privacy and Blocking Settings

On the other hand, when you block someone on Facebook, the situation changes. Blocking someone completely removes them from your view and theirs, meaning that they cannot see which of their stories have been viewed, including by you. Once you block a person, they will no longer appear in the viewers list, and you will no longer see the notifications of who viewed their stories.

No the person won't see that you viewed the story after you blocked them.

The key takeaway is that blocking is a stronger action that removes privacy concerns from the story viewers list, while muting is a more limited action that does not affect this list.

What Others See When You View a Story?

Importantly, unless you directly interact with a post through a like or comment, nobody can see that you have viewed it. This non-interaction-based privacy is preserved when you view a story silently but does not apply to the viewer list even when you block someone.

This means that while muting someone can affect the story mute feature, it does not impact who is listed as a viewer if they have already seen the story and before you mute them. The same applies to any friend or non-friend; if you like or comment on their posts, only then will they know you have engaged with them.

To sum up, muting and blocking are two different settings with different levels of impact. Blocking someone is the action to take if you want to ensure complete privacy regarding who has viewed their stories. Muting, on the other hand, is useful for reducing noise from certain people on your news feed but does not fully protect your privacy in the view count.

Key Takeaways: Muting does not affect the story viewers list, allowing the story owner to see who viewed the story. Blocking someone completely removes them from the story viewers list and no longer shows them as a viewer. Only direct interactions (likes or comments) will make the owner of the Facebook story aware that you have viewed it.