Instagram has three video-sharing features, lives, reels, and stories that tell you how many views you have received and, in some cases, shows you the list of viewers.
Instagram has become one of the biggest content sharing platforms and activity on the platform has become a lot about influencing and content creation.
For many, sharing content on Instagram is driven by accumulating as many likes and as much engagement as possible on posts in order to be perceived as popular and an influencer.
People have built and grown huge followings by using the algorithm and by posting their best content, which helps them climb up in the ladder of influencer status, much like on TikTok.
Instagram is mainly used to share photos, videos, reels, and stories with audiences and your specific followers.
Sharing videos on Instagram
When it was first launched, Instagram was mainly used for posting photos and videos on your profile, which showed up on your feed and the feeds of your followers.
Hashtagging became a widely popular phenomenon and people mostly learned how to use hashtags properly through Instagram.
Each and every post people shared was accompanied by all sorts of hashtags related to what was in their post and as time went by, the practise began to evolve and adapt to the other applications that were created, such as Snapchat, which introduced features such as Snaps and stories.
Instagram soon incorporated these features too, offering users more expanded use of video sharing. Now, there is also the introduction of Instagram Reels.
How to see who viewed your video on Instagram
Sharing a video on Instagram is no longer limited to general posting, but users can now share video content in the form of an Instagram Reel, as part of their Instagram Story, or as a regular post, but Instagram Live has also become a popular feature for users, especially content creators.
Instagram Lives allow for real-time live streaming where users can tune in and watch what a live streamer is streaming about.
People can engage in various ways on a live stream. Instagram Reels are recorded, edited, and posted by users. Users can like and comment on reels.
Stories are another way of sharing video content and again, users can watch them and engage with them through liking and commenting.
One thing all these video-sharing features have in common, especially for content creators, is that they require people to view them for engagement.
If a user has shared video content on their Instagram in any way, they will be curious about how much engagement they receive on their posts, especially how many views they received and who has or watched their content.
It is possible to see who viewed your video content and knowing how to check who viewed your content and how many views were received will be important for creators.
Can you see who has viewed your Instagram Story?
If you have posted a video on your story, then checking to see the number of views you received and who they came from may be something you want to find out.
Stories tell you who has viewed your Instagram Story and the number of views it has. Users can check this by going to their posted story at the top of their feed.
| Steps | What to do |
| Step 1 | Go to the top of your Home page and tap on “Your Story” |
| Step 2 | While your story is playing the video, go to the bottom-left corner and click on “Seen by” |
| Step 3 | An eye icon will appear and it will tell you the number of views the story has |
| Step 4 | Under the eye icon and the number of views is a “Viewers” section which shows the names of people who viewed your story |
How to see who viewed your Instagram Reel
Unlike stories, Instagram does not allow you to see exactly who viewed your reels. This is because a public account user can generate thousands of views on a reel, which would make it difficult for Instagram to provide the names of every viewer.
The only thing that can be viewed is the number of views on a reel.
Can you see who has viewed your Instagram Live?
Live streaming is also a feature on Instagram and when a person goes live, they can see who is joining their live and interacting with them through comments and likes.
For those who are wondering if they can still see the list of viewers after the live has ended, unfortunately, this is not possible, since at the end of the live, all interaction ends, including the list of viewers who joined and watched the live.