A colleague told me that he’d sent me a message on Facebook, but I can’t find it either in my inbox or my “Other” folder. He said it might be in my Spam folder, but what’s he talking about? There’s a spam folder in Facebook?
Surprisingly, there are three mailboxes (messageboxes?) for email on Facebook, though since so few people even know that there’s an “Other” box, I’m sure 99.9% of Facebook users have no idea that there’s a spam folder too. Makes sense since more than just our friends can contact us on Facebook – and even email us from outside of the Facebook universe. In this modern age, every inbox needs at least a rudimentary spam filter in place.
These instructions are for a Web-based experience. if you’re one of the millions of users who access Facebook via Android or iOS app then the experience is entirely different. But in a browser, here’s how ya do things…
First off, click on “Messages” on the left of your Facebook home page. You’ll then see your inbox:
We’re not interested in the communication from Jeff or Michael, however, but in the options above them, just below the Facebook search box.
You can see that Inbox is in bold. That’s the current selection. Click on “Other” to see the mail that’s not spam, but also not from one of your friends (seems like the criterion for Inbox vs Other is whether they’re a Facebook friend or not):
Well, since I don’t know who Jacque, Tran or Jasmin are, makes sense that their messages drop into my “Other” email / message box.
Before I show you where Spam is sent, click on Edit Preferences to see that you can have an even more aggressive filtering in place:
I find that Basic Filtering works just fine for me, but if it’s not working for you, ratchet it up to “Strict Filtering” and see how things change.
Close that window and click on the “More” option on the top to reveal an interesting menu:
Not only are there a couple of filters for the messages / mailbox you’re currently viewing, but that’s how you get to your Spam folder too. I’ll choose mine – with 5 unread messages, who knew? – and here’s what I see:
Well, doesn’t look like I’ve been missing much, and since this is from Mar-June of this year, doesn’t look like there’s much frequency to it all either. Which is good.
So there ya go. If you don’t see your colleagues message in either your Inbox, Other or Spam folder, then you can only conclude that he sent it to someone else on Facebook with the same name…
This information appears to be out of date. There is no “Messages” option on the left of my Facebook home page.
Correct, it now says “Messenger”. A subtle change!
Hi . I really need to talk to you to ask something about this . Can we talk ? Email me please .
Thanks for this info…I have wondered if messages got through to people not on “friend” list but had no idea there was a SPAM folder. I found the oddest message on mine so thanks for this. Will be sure to pass along in my social media classes.