How to See Who Shared Your Reel on Facebook

You’ve posted a killer Facebook Reel, the view count is climbing, and you’re starting to see the share numbers go up. But then the big question hits: who is actually sharing it? It feels like this should be simple information, but Facebook makes it surprisingly difficult to track down. This guide will walk you through exactly how to check for shares, explain the platform's limitations, and give you actionable workarounds to figure out who is sharing your content and what to do with that information.

Finding the "Shares" Count: The Easy Part

First, let's cover the basics. Finding the total number of times your Reel has been shared is straightforward. You can see this metric in a couple of places, and it gives you a quick snapshot of how your content is spreading.

From Your Facebook Page or Profile:

1. Navigate to your Facebook Profile or Page.
2. Go to your Reels tab to find the specific Reel you want to check.
3. Click on the Reel to open it in the full-screen viewer.
4. Look at the engagement icons on the right side of the screen (or bottom on desktop). You'll see icons for Likes, Comments, and Shares.
5. The number next to the arrow icon represents the total number of shares.

Seeing that number rise is exciting, but it’s just the beginning of the story. It tells you that your content is being shared, but not by whom or where, which leads to the main source of frustration for many creators.

Why You Can't Just See a Neat List of Everyone Who Shared

Here’s the answer no one wants to hear: Facebook does not provide a comprehensive list of every person who shares your Reel. It’s a frustrating limitation, but it’s intentional and primarily comes down to user privacy settings. When a person shares content on Facebook, they choose who gets to see it. Here’s why that prevents you from getting a complete list:

• Shares to Stories: If someone shares your Reel to their Facebook Story, it’s temporary by nature. It disappears after 24 hours, and you won’t get a notification unless they explicitly tag your account in the Story.
• "Friends Only" Shares: If a user with a private profile or "Friends Only" privacy settings shares your Reel to their own timeline, only their friends can see it. Since you are likely not on their friends list, Facebook's privacy walls prevent you from seeing their post. This is the most common reason you can't see most shares.
• Shares to Private Groups: A user could share your Reel in a closed or private Facebook Group. Unless you are also a member of that group, you will have no visibility into that post or the discussions around it.
• Shares via Messenger: Many shares happen privately through Facebook Messenger. These are essentially direct messages and are completely invisible to you, though they do count toward the total share metric.

Essentially, while a standard public post will often let you click the "shares" count to see a list of other public shares, Reels behave differently. Because they are so frequently shared in ephemeral or private formats (like Stories and DMs), Facebook prioritizes the sharer's privacy settings over the creator's intentions.

Actionable Workarounds to See Who Shared Your Reel

Just because Facebook doesn’t give you a clean list doesn’t mean you’re completely in the dark. With a bit of detective work, you can often uncover at least some of the public shares and gain valuable insights.

Method 1: Monitor Your Notifications Diligently

This is your most direct and reliable source of information, even if it's incomplete. Facebook will notify you when someone shares your Reel publicly and tags your Page or profile. Sharers do this to credit you or to bring you into the conversation.

Pay close attention to notifications that read something like: "John Doe mentioned you in their post" or "Jane Smith shared your Reel." These are your golden tickets. When you get one, click through to see the post. This allows you to:

• See what caption they added to your Reel.
• Read the comments and discussion their audience is having.
• Engage directly with the sharer by thanking them. This builds community and encourages others to share your work in a way that gives you credit.

Limitation: This method is entirely reactive. It only works if someone tags you and their share is set to "Public." Most people who share content don’t take that extra step, so this will only catch a small fraction of your total shares.

Method 2: Use Facebook's Search Bar to Hunt for Shares

This is a more proactive approach that can help you find public shares even when you're not tagged. It involves using the URL of your Reel as a search query. It sounds a bit technical, but it’s incredibly simple.

1. Get the Link to Your Reel: Open your Reel on Facebook. Click the "Share" icon and then select "Copy Link."
2. Go to the Facebook Search Bar: Navigate to the main Facebook search bar at the top of the page.
3. Paste the Link and Search: Paste the link you just copied into the search bar and press Enter.
4. Filter Your Results: On the search results page, look at the filters on the left-hand side. Click on "Posts."

This will show you a feed of public posts that have included the link to your Reel. You'll be able to see who shared it, what they wrote about it, and how their audience reacted. It's a fantastic way to find out how your content is being framed by others.

Limitation: Like the notification method, this trick only uncovers shares that are set to "Public." It won’t show you any shares to Stories, private profiles, groups, or messages.

Method 3: Check Reshares on Instagram (If Cross-Posted)

If you also share your Reels on Instagram and have your accounts linked, you might have better luck over there. Instagram's features for creators are often a bit more transparent, especially when it comes to Stories.

For any given Reel on Instagram, you can see a list of public accounts that are currently sharing it in their Story:

1. Open the Instagram app and navigate to the Reel on your profile.
2. Tap the three dots (...) in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3. If the Reel is being actively shared to Stories by public accounts, you will see an option that says "View Story Reshares."
4. Tapping this will show you a grid of all the current, public Stories that have included your Reel.

Limitation: This feature is exclusively for Instagram Stories, which disappear after 24 hours. So you need to check while the stories are still live. Furthermore, it only shows reshares from public accounts. But it often gives more visibility than Facebook's native tools do.

Shift Your Focus: From 'Who' Shared to 'Why' They Shared

After trying these methods, you might get a few clues but still not a complete picture. That’s okay. Chasing down every single share can be exhausting and, ultimately, less valuable than understanding the bigger picture. The most powerful strategy is to move from asking "who shared my Reel?" to "why is this Reel being shared?" The answer to that lies in your analytics.

Analyze Your Reel Performance Insights

Instead of focusing on individual sharers, dive into the metrics that Facebook does give you. These metrics offer massive clues about what's resonating with your audience. To find them, open your Reel and look for a button that says "View Insights" or "See Dashboard."

• Plays &, Reach: Are shares translating into significantly more views? If the Reach is much higher than your number of followers, you know that shares and the algorithm are successfully pushing your content to new audiences.
• Average Watch Time: This might be the single most important metric. A high average watch time means people are hooked and watching most (or all) of your video. People don't share content they haven't finished watching. If people are dropping off in the first 3 seconds, that’s your first problem to solve.
• Likes &, Comments: High engagement is often a forerunner to high shares. Look at the type of comments you're getting. Are people tagging their friends? Are they saying things like "This is so relatable" or "You have to try this"? These comments are qualitative data telling you exactly why your video is shareable.

By analyzing these insights, you can stop guessing and start building a repeatable formula for creating shareable content.

How to Create More Share-Worthy Reels

Armed with data from your insights, you can get intentional about creating content designed to be shared. Shareable content typically falls into one of these categories:

1. It Evokes Strong Emotion: The most shared content makes people feel something. Laughter is a huge one - funny and relatable memes or skits are always winners. Inspiration, encouragement, shock, and nostalgia also work incredibly well.
2. It Provides Clear Value: People love to share content that is genuinely helpful because it makes them look smart and resourceful to their friends. Think quick tutorials, life hacks, surprising facts, or step-by-step instructions that solve a common problem.
3. It's Part of a Broader Trend: Using trending audio clips, formats, or visual effects is a powerful way to increase discoverability. When your audience recognizes the sound or format, they're more likely to watch and share it because it feels timely and relevant.
4. It has a Call-to-Share: Sometimes, all you need to do is ask. A simple call-to-action like, "Share this with a friend who needs to see this!" or "Tag someone guilty of this" can directly prompt the behavior you're looking for.

Final Thoughts

While Facebook's privacy settings prevent you from seeing a complete list of everyone who shared your Reel, you're not completely powerless. By checking your notifications for tags and using the Reel's URL in the search bar, you can uncover public shares and gain valuable context. However, the most effective long-term strategy is to shift your focus from tracking individual sharers to analyzing your overall performance metrics to understand what content truly motivates your audience to hit that share button.

Managing all these different content formats and diving into analytics across multiple platforms can quickly become a full-time job. To help streamline our own process, we built Postbase, a social media tool designed for the way social media actually works today - with short-form video at the center. It allows us to plan, schedule, and analyze our content for Reels, TikToks, and Shorts all from one clean dashboard, so we can stop jumping between apps and get a clear view of what’s actually driving shares and growth.