Can You See Who Shared Your Instagram Post?

The advent of social media is both fun and daunting. On one hand, you have this enormous platform that allows you to share and document fleeting moments of your life and share it with the world. On the other hand, there is the impending doom of being seen. This especially takes a worse turn when the nagging feeling of people talking about you behind your back based on social media becomes a recurring thought. Instagram is the best example of this – being one of the largest and bubbling social media platforms in 2024.

With gnawing thoughts like these, it is easy for one to wander off thinking: Can you see who shared your Instagram post? Keep reading this article, as we guide you through the various ways through which you could check who all are interacting and sharing your posts online.

Why Sharing Matters on Instagram

Now, it is not necessary that someone sharing your post has to be a bad thing, it might simply be out of admiration or appreciation. All in all, being curious about the people who like and engage with your content is not that bad, either. Sharing is one of the most powerful and easy ways of amplifying content.

Amplification is necessary for a lot of key things – boosting your engagement so more people get familiar with your work, raising awareness, and keeping people updated and engaged. The list is endless.

On Instagram, people use various methods to share content – Stories, Direct Messages or Public reposts. If someone is sharing your content, that means it resonates with them. They find it relevant or interesting. Likes and comments are one way to share this resonation – but so is sharing.

However, Instagram’s strict policies regarding maintaining user privacy make it hard to find out who exactly is sharing your posts. Now, trying to find out the people who share your posts on Instagram is not always for negative reasons. Sometimes you want to show back your gratitude for their small token of appreciation.

While trying to find out who shared your Instagram posts is not particularly easy, it is not that hard either. Here are some easy ways in which you can see who shared your Instagram posts.

How To See Who Shared Your Instagram Post

1. Get a Creator or Business Account

Instagram Insights: This is a feature that allows you to track shares. However, it is only available to users with a business or creator account. If you currently have a personal account, you’ll need to make a switch. Here’s how: 

• Go to your Instagram settings. 
• Tap “Account.” 
• Tap “Switch to Professional Account” and follow the prompts.
• You can choose any of the creator categories that align with your profile vision to unlock Instagram Insights.

Step up to a professional account for the analytics tools where you’ll gain information on shares, impressions, and reach. Note that upgrading might allow you to see share counts, but it won’t show who precisely shared your content.

2. Use Instagram Insights

After creating either a business or creator account, you can use Instagram Insights to break down your posts. Here’s how:

• Go to your profile.
• Tap the post you want to check.
• Tap “View Insights” below the post.

While in the Insights view, you can immediately see a lot of metrics, like the number of shares. Using this data, you have a pretty good idea about how your content performs and if it is being shared at large scales.

3. Use the ‘View Story Reshares’ Option

Now, for posts shared via Stories, the platform offers a feature. So, this is “View Story Reshares.” From here, you’ll know:

• The total number of times your post has been reshared to Stories.
• The usernames of those who reshared it (provided that they did so within 24 hours of the original share).

How to use it:

• Go to your post.
• Tap the three dots in the top right.
• Tap “View Story Reshares” (if available).

Note that this feature is not available to all users and may disappear after 24 hours or when Instagram changes its functionality. If you don’t see this option, it might not be available for your post.

4. View Notifications

Even though Instagram does not offer a list of sharers for all posts, you can still configure notifications for mentions and tags. If someone shares your content and mentions you in their caption or tags you in their Story, you will receive a notification. It’s an indirect way of helping you find some of your content sharers.

5. Check the Airplane Icon for Share Counts

Under every post with “View Insights,” there will be a line of icons, among which will be an airplane icon, this is basically the send icon that allows users to share posts to various locations – Theory Story, DMs, or to other apps.

There is a number highlighted under the airplane logo—that’s how many times your post has been shared via direct message or Stories. If no one has shared your post, there will be two dashes instead of a number where the icon is.

Can You Find Out Who Shared Your Instagram Reels?

Reels are the short-form video feature of Instagram and are highly shareable. To see how your Reels are being shared:

• Open Instagram Insights for Reels
• Go to the Reels tab in your profile (it’s the clapboard icon).
• Select the Reel you want to check out
• Tap the Three Dots
• In the bottom right of the Reel, tap the three dots.

If any user has shared your Reel to their public Story, then you might have the “View Story Reshares” option.

View Insights

You can see total shares, reach, and impressions under the Insights section. You will not see who shared your Reel, but the share count tells you how popular it’s going.

Limitations of Instagram Sharing Insights

Instagram charges a heavy premium for user privacy, so even with all its features. The meaning of this is:

• You can’t see a full list of who shared your posts.
• Personal accounts don’t have access to Insights or share data.
• The ‘View Story Reshares’ option is inconsistent.

If you’re looking for more transparency around shares, you might find Instagram isn’t the best fit. With its privacy-focused approach, you can still feel safe sharing content because of its security.

Final Thoughts

So, can you tell who’s shared your post on Instagram? Yes and no. While the platform doesn’t natively offer any capability to see who has reshared your content, it does have ways business and creator accounts can determine in what way their content is being shared through insights.

With features like Instagram Insights, “View Story Reshares,” and the ability to get notifications around mentions, how far and wide your content is traveling could be clearer in your mind. And in the future, as always, new features may emerge, simplifying analytics sharing for everyone.

In the meantime, focus on creating shareable content that resonates with the audience. After all, the more eyeballs your posts reach—and you don’t need to count every single share for that—the more your influence will grow, clear testament to the power of meaningful connections on Instagram.