Facebook to Remove Public Follower Option on Personal Profiles

Facebook is making a significant change to how personal profiles operate by removing the ability to have public followers. Over the coming months, users with personal profiles that allow public following will need to adjust their settings or transition to a new mode.

What’s Changing on FB in 2025?

Currently, Facebook users can enable the public "Follow" feature, allowing non-friends to follow their posts and see updates in their feeds. This feature has been commonly used by those who want to share content more broadly without adding people as friends.

Here’s how Facebook describes the functionality

“When you follow someone, you see their posts in your Feed. You automatically follow people you’re friends with, but you can also follow people you’re interested in without being friends. People can choose to allow non-friends to see their posts in their Feed.”

However, Facebook is phasing out this option for personal profiles. Instead, users will be required to make a choice:

1. Remove Public Followers: Keep your profile strictly personal with no public following.
2. Switch to Professional Mode: Convert your personal profile into a "Professional Mode" account, which functions more like a Page.

Why Is Facebook Making This Change?

There are a few likely reasons for the removal of public followers on personal profiles:

• Enhanced Privacy: This change simplifies privacy settings for non-business accounts, ensuring personal updates remain limited to friends and family.
• Promoting Professional Mode: By encouraging users to transition to Professional Mode, Facebook increases opportunities for monetization. Professional accounts offer features like post boosting and ad options, which personal profiles do not.
• Prioritizing Creator Content: With Facebook increasingly emphasizing AI-recommended posts and creator content, removing public followers on personal profiles clears more space for creator updates in users’ feeds.

How Will This Work?

As seen in screenshots shared by Facebook marketing expert Mari Smith, some users are already receiving notifications about the change. Facebook is rolling this update out gradually to avoid a sudden shift for all users. Those affected will see options to either remove public followers in one tap or switch to Professional Mode.

Switching to Professional Mode essentially transforms a personal profile into a Page, with tools for analytics, boosted posts, and audience management. For those who want to maintain public visibility, this will be the only available option.

What It Means for You

This update means users will need to decide how they want to use Facebook moving forward:

• If you’re a creator or professional who values the public follower feature, transitioning to Professional Mode might make sense.
• For those using Facebook primarily for personal connections, removing public followers ensures your content stays private among friends.

It’s also worth noting that Professional Mode opens up new advertising and promotional opportunities, which could be a part of Meta’s strategy to increase ad revenue by encouraging more users to engage with these tools.

When Is This Happening?

The rollout is staged, so not everyone will see this change immediately. Notifications are already appearing for some users, while others won’t encounter it until later in 2024. Regardless, the update will be implemented globally over time.

What’s Next w/FB?

As this change continues to roll out, consider whether public followers are essential to your Facebook experience. If not, sticking with a personal profile is the simplest route. For those who value broad visibility, switching to Professional Mode will keep your content accessible to followers and unlock additional features.

Stay tuned for further updates as Facebook refines its approach to profiles and content visibility.