Want to share something personal with a Facebook friend? Do that via a private message. If that person is also on Facebook at that time, you can chat directly.
Facebook’s chat function
Much of your activity on Facebook is viewable by your Facebook friends. But you can also private message a friend if you don’t want others to read along. Handy for the things you really want to keep personal.
- Go to facebook.com and log in with username and password.
- Click the speech bubble icon in the menu bar.
- Click to the left of ‘Messenger’ on New chat message.
- A new window will appear. At the top, type a Facebook friend’s name.
- Click on the friend to start a conversation.
- In the text bar where it says ‘Aa’ and type a message. Press the Enter key on the keyboard to send the message.
If the other person is not on Facebook, it may take a long time to get a response. Feel free to click on the cross of the conversation. When you get a message back, the chat window will open automatically. If this does not happen, a red number will appear next to the speech bubble in the menu.
Video: Send Facebook private message
You can also start a chat in another way. Watch the video below for that. Facebook has now been given a different look, but the steps are still correct.
Facebook Messenger
The chat function is not included in the Facebook app for smartphones and tablets. Facebook has a separate app for that: Messenger. Read more about Facebook’s various posts in the ‘Posts on Facebook’ article.