Should You Turn Off Facebook Private Messages?

Do you check for private messages to your Facebook business page and respond to them on a regular basis? Private messages can be a good way for a local business to communicate with customers. But it’s better to disable Facebook messages altogether than to just ignore them.

In an ideal world, it’s best to keep private messages enabled for your Facebook page. It’s another line of communication with your customers. And just as you check your e-mails every day, you should also check and respond to legitimate Facebook private messages.

Facebook private messages are easy to track. The Facebook website and the Facebook Pages app will notify you of new messages in multiple ways.

Facebook Website Message Notification
The Facebook website notifies you of private messages in three places
Facebook Pages App Message Notification
Facebook Pages app message notification on an iPhone

But there may be times when you want to shut off Facebook private messages completely. Maybe you or your marketing manager are taking a vacation or won’t have the ability to respond to instant messaging for a time. Or, maybe you simply never use it.

It’s better to turn off private messages altogether than not to respond at all. If you keep private messages on and don’t manage it properly, your business runs the risk of appearing unresponsive to customers.

Here’s how to turn off Facebook messaging

  1. Open your Facebook business page as an administrator.
  2. Click “Settings” at the top right of the page next to the “Help” tab.
  3. In the “General” section, click “Edit” next to the “Messages” section.
  4. Uncheck the box that says, “Allow people to contact my page privately by showing the message button” and click “Save Changes”

Steps to turn off Facebook private messages

When you look at your page now, the “Messages” button will be gone.

Remember, you can always turn Facebook private messages back on again when you’re ready to use it as an additional line of communication with your customers.

Heather Henstock
Heather is the Managing Editor for Local Marketing Institute. She has been the associate publisher and editor-in-chief for magazines serving the baking industry and has a passion to help local business owners succeed and thrive!