Follow
Follow is the Chatter action that subscribes a user to updates from a person, a record, a Chatter group, a topic, or a file.
Definition
Follow is the Chatter action that subscribes a user to updates from a person, a record, a Chatter group, a topic, or a file. Once a user follows something, the posts, comments, and feed-tracked field changes connected to it show up in that user's What I Follow feed. Salesforce stores each follow relationship as an EntitySubscription record, available through the API since version 34.0.
Following is one-directional and permission-aware. Following a person does not need that person's approval, and followers never see anything they lack permission to see. A user can follow a combined total of 500 people, topics, and records at once. Following a record is most useful when an admin has turned on feed tracking, because tracking is what turns field changes into feed posts.
How Follow drives the What I Follow feed
What you can follow and where the subscription lives
Users can follow other users, records on any object enabled for feed tracking, public Chatter groups, topics, and files. Each follow is stored as one EntitySubscription record. That object holds a ParentId pointing at the thing being followed, a SubscriberId pointing at the user doing the following, and a NetworkId when the follow happens inside an Experience Cloud site. EntitySubscription has been queryable through the API since version 34.0, and it supports create, delete, and query calls. A SOQL query against EntitySubscription returns every follow in the org, which makes it the go-to object for cleanup, reporting, and audit work. Salesforce caps each user at a combined 500 followed people, topics, and records at any one time. The cap is silent. Once a user hits it, the Follow button stops adding new subscriptions until that user unfollows something to free a slot. Users can check their current count on the Following list on their profile. The limit is the single most common reason a power user reports that Follow has quietly stopped working.
Feed tracking decides what gets posted
Following a record is only half the picture. Feed tracking on the object decides which field changes become automatic feed posts. An admin enables it under Setup by entering Feed Tracking in Quick Find, picking the object, checking Enable Feed Tracking, and selecting the fields to follow. You can track up to 20 fields per object. Some field types cannot be tracked at all, including auto-number, formula, roll-up summary, and encrypted fields, plus a few object-specific exceptions like Expected Revenue on opportunities. With tracking off, the record feed shows only manual posts and comments, so followers see nothing surprising when the record changes. Several objects ship with sensible defaults. Account tracks Name and Owner, Case tracks Owner, Priority, and Status, and Opportunity tracks Amount, Close Date, Name, Owner, and Stage. The pairing of a follow with thoughtful feed tracking is what surfaces meaningful change events in What I Follow. Track too few fields and the feed feels empty. Track too many and the noise pushes people to unfollow.
Auto-follow and the records it skips
Salesforce can subscribe users to records they create without any manual click. A user turns this on through their personal settings by searching for My Feeds and selecting Automatically follow records I create. The setting is the highest-leverage way to drive follow engagement, because it works with zero ongoing effort. It has clear gaps that trip up admins. You cannot auto-follow tasks, events, or dashboards, so those records need a manual follow. Auto-follow also does not reach down to child records. Creating a child record does not subscribe you to it even when you own the parent, so a related contact or opportunity needs its own follow. Owner change is another gap. Reassigning a record to a new owner does not subscribe that new owner, which is why a record-triggered flow that inserts an EntitySubscription on owner change is one of the more popular Chatter automation recipes. Admins who want consistent coverage usually combine the personal auto-follow setting with flow-based follows for the cases the setting misses.
Following people versus following records
Following a person and following a record both feed the same What I Follow stream, but they surface different content. When you follow a person, you see that person's posts, comments, and likes in your feed. You do not see their activity in groups you lack access to, so the stream still respects boundaries. Following a person needs no approval from them, which keeps the action low-friction. Following a record surfaces posts on that record plus the tracked field changes, tasks, and comments tied to it. The choice between the two shapes how noisy a feed becomes. Following one colleague who works five accounts pulls in everything that colleague touches across all five, which can bury the updates you actually care about. Following the five accounts directly is more targeted, because you get changes on exactly those records and nothing else. A good habit is to follow records for the work you own and follow people sparingly, usually only direct teammates whose every update is relevant to you.
Permissions, visibility, and the silent drop-off
Follow never widens what a user can see. A user can follow only records they already have read access to, and sharing rules plus field-level security govern what shows up in the feed afterward. This has a quiet consequence that surprises people. If a user loses access to a followed record later, through a sharing rule change or a manager reassignment, the follow becomes inert and the record drops out of the feed without any message. The subscription may still exist as an EntitySubscription row, but it produces nothing. Field-level security works the same way at the field level. A tracked field that a user cannot see does not generate a visible change for that user, even though the change happened and other followers with access see it. This permission-aware behavior is a feature, not a bug. It means an admin can enable feed tracking broadly without worrying that following a record leaks restricted data. The flip side is that two people following the same record can see different feeds depending on their access.
Unfollow, mobile, and bulk cleanup
Users unfollow from the same place they follow: a button on the user profile, the record header, or the group page. One detail catches people out. After you unfollow a person, their past posts stay in your What I Follow feed, and only their future updates stop appearing. Unfollowing does not scrub history. On mobile, the Salesforce app surfaces What I Follow under the feed area and can push notifications for posts on followed records, controlled by each user's notification settings. On desktop, the Chatter tab and the bell icon do the same job. Mobile notification settings are the usual culprit when a user complains about missing updates on a record they follow. For admins, bulk cleanup runs through EntitySubscription. Query the object, then delete rows in batches to clear out clutter. Two common cleanups are removing follows tied to deactivated users and removing follows on records that closed more than a year ago. Both add noise to the feeds of active users, and trimming them keeps the Who Follows This widget honest.
Enable feed tracking so follows show field changes
Following a record only produces automatic updates when feed tracking is on for that object. Here is how an admin enables it so followers actually see field changes in What I Follow.
- Open Feed Tracking in Setup
From Setup, enter Feed Tracking in the Quick Find box and select Feed Tracking. The page lists every object that supports it on the left.
- Select the object and enable tracking
Click the object you want, for example Account or Case, then check Enable Feed Tracking. This switches on the record feed and lets you pick fields.
- Choose the fields to track
Select up to 20 fields whose changes should post to the feed. Pick the few that matter, such as Stage and Amount on Opportunity, to avoid flooding followers.
- Save and verify
Click Save, then edit a tracked field on a sample record. Confirm the change appears in the record feed and in the What I Follow feed of a user who follows it.
The master switch per object. Off by default for most custom objects; some standard objects ship with tracking already on.
The specific fields whose changes generate feed posts. Auto-number, formula, roll-up summary, and encrypted fields cannot be selected.
A per-user setting under My Feeds that auto-subscribes the creator. Does not cover tasks, events, dashboards, or child records.
- Tracking more than a handful of fields per object floods followers and drives them to unfollow within days.
- Owner change does not auto-follow the new owner; cover that gap with a record-triggered flow that inserts an EntitySubscription.
- Followers never see tracked changes on fields hidden by field-level security, so two users following the same record can see different feeds.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Follow in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Follow RecordsSalesforce
- Follow People and RecordsSalesforce
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Follow.
- EntitySubscription Object ReferenceSalesforce
- Feed Tracking OverviewSalesforce
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Follow.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What does following a record in Chatter actually cause to happen for that follower?
Q2. Following a record produces nothing useful in the feed unless what else is configured on the object?
Q3. What is the default ceiling on how many entities a single user can follow at one time?
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