How To: Track Your Profile Views

My friend Megan (Yale '06) asks me, "Hey, is there any way to tell who's been looking at your Facebook or Myspace?" To which I reply, "Yes."

Okay, sort of.

To begin, this is easier to do on Myspace than on Facebook because Myspace allows you to put in all this HTML code to create your very own eyesore. But, with the right coding, your profile could be eyecandy, I don't know.

But, anyway. To track your profile views on Myspace, you're going to have to use another service. There are so many of these. Some work. Some don't. Some are just scams. And some even charge you money! The audacity!

Now. I, personally, don't have a Myspace profile (anymore), so I couldn't check any of these out, but I will give my recommendations, anyway. Take them as you may:

Trakzor has a sleek interface:

All you have to do is place an image on your MySpace profile, accompanied by a link or two, and you're good to go. You'll be able to see when someone visits your profile, where they are from, and if that person has already registered at Trakzor, you'll be able to identify that person specifically!

And then there is WhoIsStalkingYou.

WhoIsStalkingYou doesn't actually require your visitors to be using their service. You could send them a link over AIM, which they provide help for in their Tips. Furthermore, WhoIsStalkingYou doesn't allow you to use your Myspace login on their site. This gives it better credibility, I figure.

And, lastly, I think I'd like WhosOnMySpace and maybe even StatSync.

Check out these 4 services and make your own decision, keeping in mind that these "trackers" are probably against Myspace's Terms of Service, uh-oh.

But, moving on.

About Facebook, you'll know that HTML is only allowed in your Notes. Checking out the archives of Collegev2, I found this:

Step 1: Get the tracker image code
If you Google Free Hit Counters you can find a service that will work for you. Just make sure that they offer you a tagged counter. I;d personally suggest SEO Logic’s super easy free counter.

NOTE: If you use SEO Logic’s counter, make sure you choose a unique URL. Think of it as your user name instead of your domain.

Step 2: Create a Note
Write whatever you would like, but be sure to include the HTML code for your tracking image.

Step 3: Preview/Publish
Preview the post and make sure you can see the counter. If it doesn’t work, go back and make sure the code was copied in its entirety. If it worked, publish it and start tracking your hits!

Essentially, get a code for a hit counter. Make a Note. Put the code AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR NOTE. Publish it. Then, make it stay on your Mini-Feed on your profile by deleting (clicking the "X") any other feeds that push it past the bottom. This will essentially load your hit counter every time someone views your profile.

And so there you are. I'd appreciate any comments to this entry on how these tips work (or don't work).

Comments

[shawn]

it doesnt work on facebook because when a note is published on your profiles news feed, facebook only displays clean text and no html code... the html code only runs when they actually view the note

[Stephy]

There are those apps which let you add your own HTML to your profile :3

But.. this does not allow us to know who visited. Isn't there a way to read the use ID or something and send it back to somewhere (idk) using HTML/Java?

[greg]

hey i was just searching about this after i saw this app
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5179212716&ref=pr

would there be a way to modify this to track who saw your profile?

[pochahontas]

So, this only gives us the number of visits, not who's actually visiting it, right?

[Rick With A Silent P]

Why would we want a counter on Facebook when we really want is to see WHO is actually viewing our profile?

[profile view]

good post though Trakzor have some limitness as you can only track those persons who already are member of this service.