It’s no longer a surprise that everyone and everything has a Facebook account; indeed, not having a Facebook page of some kind is probably the real anomaly.
From connecting with friends and family to promoting your business or networking with peers, everyone can find some use or the other for this ubiquitous social media platform – so much so that “Facebooking” has become a verb defined in the magisterial Oxford Dictionary!
Facebook Page – “View as Visitor” feature:
All of us put a lot of effort into properly curating our Facebook profiles, to ensure that they appear as attractive as possible to visitors. However, when we are the owner of the profile, it won’t appear to us in the same way as it will appear to others.
But without knowing what the page will like to look to those who are visiting it, it is impossible for us to know whether it is indeed an attractive, informative and stylish Facebook page, or needs some work to improve its clarity and aesthetic features.
You can also confirm that your privacy settings are working as intended, so the general public can see only the content you want them to see.
To help out the users who want to get an idea of what their Facebook page looks like to others, Facebook has added a feature termed the “View as Visitor” feature. You can use this option to understand how your page is showing up on the screens of those who are visiting this page.
The “View as Visitor” feature is accessed in different ways, depending on whether you are on your PC, on an Android mobile phone, or your iPhone.
In this article, we’ll explore how to access this helpful feature on all three of the aforementioned platforms. We’ll also go over all the possible reasons for the “View as” button being missing/unavailable on your Facebook page or profile, and discuss the actions you can take to fix this issue if such an eventuality does come to pass.
So, if you want to know how to view your Facebook page or profile as a visitor, just relax, lean back and keep reading!
How to view FB page or profile as a visitor on your PC:
- Log into your Facebook account.
- Towards the top of the page, you’ll see the name of your account. Click on it to go to your profile.
- In the top right-hand corner, in the same bar which has options like “Posts”, “About”, “Friends” etc., you’ll see three horizontal dots which look like this – “…”. Click on the dots.
- A pop-up menu will appear. At the very top of this menu, next to the symbol of an eye, you will find an option called “view as.”
- Click on the “view as” option to see your page the same way visitors will see it.
Alternatively, you can try out the following method to access the “View as” feature:
- Log into your Facebook account. In the top right-hand corner, next to the bell icon for notifications, you’ll see an upside-down triangle. Click on this symbol.
- The first option will be Settings and Privacy. Click on it, then navigate to the Settings page (again the first option on the dropdown menu).
- In the left sidebar, you will see the Public Posts option. Click on it.
- At the bottom of the Public Posts page, you will find a link captioned “Want to know what your followers can see? View your public timeline.” Open this link.
- You will now see your Facebook page or profile as if you were a visitor. Mission accomplished!
- If you want to return to your normal view of your page, you’ll see an option to “Exit View As” in the top right corner of the page. Just click on that and it will take you back. Alternatively, just click on your profile name at the top of the page.
How to view your Facebook page or profile as a visitor on your Android or iPhone:
- Open the Facebook app on your phone.
- At the bottom (if you’re using an iPhone) or at the top right corner of the page (if you’re using an Android phone), you’ll find the menu, in the form of three horizontal bars. Click on it.
- At the top of the next page you’ll see the name of your account. Click on it.
- Below your cover photo and name, on the extreme right, you’ll see three horizontal dots like this – “…”. Click on them.
- In the menu that appears, you’ll see the option to “View as”, next to the symbol of an eye – between the options to “Archive” and “Lock Profile”. Click on the “View as” option.
- You’ll be now viewing your profile or page in the same manner as any visitor. To return to your normal view, click on the “X” icon in the top left corner (if you’re using an iPhone), or the “Exit View” option at the very top of the page, on the right-hand side. This will take you back to the menu described in the previous bullet.
How do I view my Facebook page or profile like someone not logged into Facebook?
Often, your Facebook page or profile will be visited by someone who isn’t logged into their own Facebook account at that time, or even (more rarely) someone who doesn’t have a Facebook account altogether! This is a particularly common occurrence for businesses that use their Facebook page to promote their products or services; visitors might access the pages through links sent through / found on other platforms.
To view your Facebook page or profile in the same manner as someone who is either not logged into their account, or doesn’t even have an account, follow these steps:
- Log into your Facebook account on a web browser.
- Copy the URL at the top of the page.
- Open an incognito window, where you are not logged into your account.
- Paste the link in the search bar, and go to the page.Voilà, you’re done!
The “View as” option is missing on Facebook?
As a result of some recent pages introduced by Facebook to their user interface, you can’t find the option to “View as” in the same way as you could earlier before these particular changes were made.
This change has affected the business pages on Facebook. Before the update in question, it was possible to click on the three horizontal dots (“…”) right under your cover photo and select the “View as” feature from the drop-down menu that appeared. But now the “View as” feature has been removed from this menu. To access this feature currently, follow the steps described earlier in the article.
In the past, there have been occasions when Facebook removed the “View as” feature to address certain security breaches. In September 2018, after nearly 50 million Facebook accounts were hit by a security breach, Facebook revealed that the attackers had exploited bugs in the coding for the “View as” feature to steal access tokens, which they then used to take over accounts.
Facebook removed the feature while it addressed the issue, reintroducing it only in March 2019, after almost eight months had elapsed. In March of this year, Facebook users again reported that they could not find this particular feature on their pages/profiles. However, this would appear to be a bug of some sort, since Facebook has not announced any official intention of removing this feature.
If you are facing this issue, check if there is any available update to Facebook; you can do so by visiting Facebook’s page on the Google Play Store. Downloading the update should solve the issue. Otherwise, you will have to wait for Facebook to implement a fix of some sort.
Earlier, there also used to be a feature which would enable you to view your page or profile in the manner a specific person would view it, as opposed to how it would appear to the general public. Facebook has since removed that feature for good.
Conclusion
The option to “View as” is certainly a popular and useful feature implemented by Facebook. The owner of a business page can optimise it to be the most eye-catching and attractive as well as informative for any visitors, who might be converted into prospective customers. Even if you merely use the page to connect with friends and family, seeing how your page and profile appear to others is a helpful way to make your page pleasing to the eye.
Confirming that your privacy settings are working as intended is another key benefit of “View as”: you never know when you might have slipped up while selecting and saving your privacy settings, leaving some sensitive information completely open to the public gaze.
We hope you found this article on how to view your Facebook page or profile as a visitor on PCs, Android or iPhones helpful. Thank you for reading, and happy Facebooking!
